History for ready reference, Volume 7
Volume VI. of this work,—were compromised in 1900 by an
agreement which extended the Ausgleich temporarily until 1907.
See, in Volume VI. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1899-1900.
It was stipulated, however, in the agreement, that if no permanent settlement of the questions involved should have been reached by the end of the year 1902, either party to the _Ausgleich_ should be free to dissolve the Customs Union that formed part of it after 1904, provided that said party should have formally denounced the compact prior to January 1, 1902. The formal notice or denunciation was given accordingly by Austria, whose government gave notice that it would end the Customs Union unless better terms from Hungary could be secured. In Hungary the Independence party led by Ferencz Kossuth, the son of Louis Kossuth, was eager for the break, desiring no union with Austria beyond that of the two crowns on one head. The tariff question seemed insoluble, because Hungary wanted protection for its agriculture, which Austria believed to be greatly disadvantageous to herself.
{36}
The prime ministers of the two Governments came to an agreement which was submitted to the two parliaments early in 1903, but obstruction in both bodies prevented any effective action. On other questions the antagonism was no less pronounced. The Hungarian Independence party was resolute in determining to separate the Hungarian from the Austrian army, making it distinctly Hungarian, under Hungarian officers and using the Hungarian word of command. This drew from the Emperor, in September, a public announcement that he must and would hold fast to the existing organization of the army. At length, in December, Kossuth agreed, for his party, to abandon obstruction on condition that Parliament should proclaim, as a principle, that "in Hungary the source of every right, and in the army the source of rights appertaining to the language of service and command, is the will of the nation as expressed through the legislature." But though obstruction from the Independence party ceased then it was continued by a Catholic party, on grounds of personal hostility to the Protestant Premier, Count Tisza, and the Government, deprived of authority to recruit the army, kept in service the men whose term had expired.
An almost equal deadlock of legislation prevailed in Austria, where the struggle over language questions between Czechs and Germans went fiercely on; while Croatia was full of rebellious spirit, excited by the Magyarizing policy of its Hungarian governor.
Twice, during 1903, the Hungarian administration underwent a change, the Szell Ministry giving way in June to one headed by Count Kuen Hedervary, he, in turn, being displaced by Count Tisza in October. The latter was a son of Koloman Tisza, who had formerly held the reins in Hungary for many years.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1903-1904. Concert with Russia in submitting the Mürzsteg Programme of reform in Macedonia to Turkey.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1904.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1904. Paralysis of Government in both divisions of the dual empire.
Legislation in both Austria and Hungary was paralyzed throughout 1904 by obstructive oppositions which nothing could pacify. In Austria it was the battle of Czech against German for language rights; but, in the end, the German Premier, Dr. Körber, lost the support of his own race, by allowing Italian law-classes to be formed in the University at Innsprück, with a faculty of their own. He resigned on the last day of the year, and was succeeded by Baron Gautsch.
In Hungary the obstruction was maintained by a combination of three parties,—the Independence Party of Ferencz Kossuth, which is irreconcilable in its repudiation of the union with Austria, the Liberal-Conservative Separatists, so-called, led by Count Apponyi, and a Catholic People’s Party, under Count Zichy. The extraordinary attitude of these practical anarchists, as they would seem to be, is indicated by a performance at the opening of the session of the Hungarian Parliament on the 13th of December, 1904, which is described in the _Annual Register_, as follows:
"They entered the House before the usual time of meeting, assaulted the police when they endeavored to prevent some of the members from mounting the President’s platform, tore down the woodwork, destroyed the furniture, and finally had themselves photographed, with the ex-Premier Baron Banffy at their head, in the midst of the ruin they had wrought. This extraordinary scene was described by M. Kossuth as ‘a symbol of the political maturity of the Magyars, who, after asserting their rights, refrain from excesses;’ and by Count Apponyi as ‘an evidence of the importance attached to continuity of legal right in Hungary.’ When the broken furniture was removed and the House was restored to something like its former appearance, the members returned; but all the attempts of the Government to speak were howled down by the Opposition." The Opposition which accomplished this paralysis of Government in Hungary numbered, in its three divisions, only 190 members, out of 451.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1904-1909. Effects in Europe and on the Triple Alliance of the Russo-Japanese War.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1904-1909.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905. Action with other Powers in forcing financial reforms in Macedonia on Turkey.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1905-1908.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905. Hostility to the Serbo-Bulgarian Customs Union.
See (in this Volume) BALKAN STATES: BULGARIA AND SERVIA: A. D. 1902.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906. Continued deadlock, seated mainly in Hungary. Resignation of Count Tisza. The Fejervary Ministry. Dissolution of the Hungarian Parliament. Kossuth and his allies take office. Universal male suffrage adopted in Austria.
The deadlock of political forces in the Dual Empire was prolonged through another year, Hungary being the main seat of the block. Elections for the Hungarian Diet, in January, went heavily against the Ministry of Count Tisza and strongly in favor of that section of the Opposition which bore the name of the Independence Party and which was led by Ferencz Kossuth. Count Tisza resigned, and the Emperor-King endeavored to make terms with Kossuth, Apponyi, and Andrassy under which the Government might be carried on with parliamentary support. This proved impracticable, especially by reason of the insistent demand of the Opposition for a separation of the Hungarian from the Austrian part of the imperial army, and the determination of the sovereign not to yield to that demand. Count Tisza and his colleagues were kept in office until June, despite a heavy vote of censure in the Diet, and then the Emperor appointed as Premier General Baron Fejervary, who commanded no more support than his predecessor had done. The majority in the representative chamber denounced the Ministry as unconstitutional, and issued a manifesto, calling on the people to withhold taxes and military service from this simulacrum of Government, which had no lawful claim to either. This was accepted as good counsel by great numbers of people, and grave embarrassments resulted from the non-payment of taxes.
{37}
In the August number (1905) of _The American Review of Reviews_ Count Albert Apponyi, leader of one of the parties united more or less in the Hungarian Opposition, gave the Hungarian side of the political issues with Austria. In part, he wrote: "The writer had the honor of delivering at St. Louis, at the Arts and Science Congress of last year, a short historical account of our relation with the Austrian dynasty. There are to be found the chief facts, which show: (1) That our forefathers called that dynasty to the Hungarian throne, not in order to get Hungary absorbed into an Austrian or any other sort of empire, but, on the contrary, under the express condition of keeping the independence and the constitution of the Hungarian kingdom unimpaired; (2) that this condition has been accepted and sworn to by all those members of the dynasty (Joseph II. alone excepted) who ascended the Hungarian throne; (3) that, nevertheless, practical encroachments on our independence, followed by conflicts and reconciliations, have been at all epochs frequent; (4) but that a juridical fact never occurred which could be construed into a modification of that fundamental condition of the dynasty’s title to Hungary. …
The physical person of the ruler is, in truth, the same in both countries, but the juridical personality of the King of Hungary is distinct and, as to the contents of its prerogative, widely different from the juridical personality of the Emperor of Austria. Hungary is the oldest constitutional country on the European Continent. The royal prerogative in her case is an emanation of the constitution,—not prior to it,—and consists in such rights as the nation has thought fit to vest in her king. In Austria, on the other hand, the existing constitution is a free gift of the Emperor, and has conferred on the people of Austria such rights as the Emperor has thought fit to grant to them. The title of ‘Emperor of Austria-Hungary’ … [sometimes used] is simply nonsense. The time-hallowed old Hungarian crown has not been melted into the brand-new Austrian imperial diadem. That imperial title does not contain, to any extent, the Hungarian royal title. The Emperor of Austria, as such, has just as much legal power in Hungary as the President of the United States has. He is, juridically speaking, a foreign potentate to us.
"On these fundamental truths, no Hungarian—to whatever party he may belong—admits discussion. … The Liberal party, vanquished at the last elections, does not in the least differ from the victorious opposition as to the principles laid down in these pages; it only advocated a greater amount of forbearance against the petty encroachments which practically obscured them. That policy of forbearance became gradually distasteful to the country; seeing it shaken in the public mind, the recent prime minister, Count Tisza, formed the unhappy idea of gaining a new lease of power on its behalf by a parliamentary _coup d’état_. The rules of the House were broken, in order to prevent future obstruction, chiefly against military bills. This brought matters to an acute crisis. The parliament in which that breach of the rules had taken place became unfit for work of any sort, the country had to be consulted, and down went the Liberal party and the half-hearted policy it represented with no hope for revival.
"The army question, with its ever-recurring difficulties, is a highly characteristic feature of the chronic latent conflict between the Austrian and the Hungarian mentality. It amounts to this, that, as we are a nation, we mean to have an armed force corresponding to our national individuality, commanded in our language, and serving under our flags and emblems. It would be unnatural for any nation, and would be, in fact, an abdication of the title of ‘nation,’ to renounce such a national claim. The Austrians, on the other hand,—and, unhappily, their influence is still prevalent in this question,—not yet having abandoned the idea of a pan-Austrian empire, uncompromisingly adhere to the present military organization, which makes the German language and the imperial emblems prevalent throughout the whole army, its Hungarian portion included."
In September, 1905, the Emperor-King summoned the chiefs of the opposing coalition to Vienna and renewed his endeavor to make terms with them; but his own conditions, relative to the army, to the language of command and service in it, to the tariff relations between Austria and Hungary, and to other matters of dispute, were apparently as uncompromisable as theirs, and only intensified the bad feeling in the country.
A little later the Fejervary Ministry announced a programme of policy which offered concessions and many excellent measures, but all save one of them were scorned. That one was a proposal of universal suffrage, with direct secret balloting, which in both Hungary and Austria had now become a subject of wide popular demand. The agitation for it became clamorous in the later months of the year, especially in the Austrian towns. But the leaders of the Hungarian Opposition were supposed to be personally hostile to universal suffrage. "As representatives of the most educated, wealthy, and powerful race in the kingdom, they have long enjoyed absolute political control. But universal suffrage," says a contemporary journalist, "would so increase the non-Magyar elements in Parliament as to deprive the Magyar leaders of much of their ascendency. At present these leaders are strong enough to defeat the King’s magnificent programme, announced by Baron Fejervary. But such a defeat would place them in an embarrassing position. They would have definitely assumed an attitude which belies their name of Liberal."
The Fejervary programme was well planned to be troublesome to the opponents of the Government. While not surrendering to their demand for the Magyar language of command in the Hungarian part of the Imperial army, it proposed that the men who do not speak that language should be trained in it as far as possible. And it included a number of other most important measures: for compulsory free education; for compulsory insurance of workmen; for small farm grants to the peasantry; for the conversion of mortgage debts that weigh on small landowners, and for various taxation reforms. Evidently the Opposition endeavored to keep public attention and public feeling focused on the claim for a distinct Hungarian army, with the Magyar language for its word of command. Kossuth, the dominating leader of the coalition against the Government, defined the argument for this claim. No mention, he said, is made of any common army in the agreement on which the Dual Empire is founded. The Hungarian Constitution vests in the Emperor of Austria, as King of Hungary, "all those things which refer to the commanding and administration … of the Hungarian army."
{38}
But the Constitution does not hint that the Hungarian army should be commanded in German. It has not specifically forbidden such a thing, but in another part of the Constitution it is provided that the language of public services in Hungary shall be Hungarian. And is not the army a "public service"? he asked. Besides, he explained: "A century ago the Hungarian magnates, generally, paid for their own soldiers, and ours was not, in the beginning, a State army. When the combination with Austria came about, the officers were of all nations, and the Austrians brought in many of their own. To tell the truth, our own Hungarians were too lazy—there is no other word for it—to take the trouble to reorganize and start a Hungarian army, so they left it to the Austrians for the time being. It was for this reason, and with the consciousness of this defect, that Article XI. expressly left the language of command to be determined, constitutionally, later. But we also expressly confined it within the limits of our own Constitution … and we spoke of a Hungarian army, not a common one."
The year 1906 opened with the discords of the situation in Hungary rather heightened than lessened, and on the 19th of February the Emperor dissolved the Hungarian Parliament, announcing that he did so for the reason that the parties of the Opposition had "persistently refused to take over the Government on an acceptable basis without violating the Royal rights as by law guaranteed." Disturbances on the occasion were prevented by strong forces of soldiery and police. Two days later the Austro-Hungarian tariff and a commercial treaty, both of which had been refused ratification in Hungary, were promulgated as of force, pending future action; and by various other arbitrary measures the Emperor-King assumed the right to prevent a governmental collapse. This attitude on the part of the sovereign appears to have produced a change of attitude among his opponents; for early in April M. Kossuth and Count Andrassy entered into an arrangement with him for the formation of a Ministry by themselves and their associates of the Coalition, with the understanding that the army question should be put aside until after the election of a new Parliament, to meet in May. At that session they promised to pass the budget, the new international commercial treaties, to maintain in every way the existing condition of things between Austria and Hungary, to permit the passage of a bill providing for universal manhood suffrage, and then for Parliament to terminate its labors, allowing the election of a new one under the universal suffrage system, the Cabinet to be re-formed conformably to the desires of the parliamentary majority. Thereupon the Emperor-King requested Dr. Alexander Wekerle, a former Hungarian Prime Minister, to form a Cabinet, including in it Kossuth, Apponyi, Andrassy, and Zichy. At the election, held soon after, the Independence party won about 250 out of 400 seats. The new Parliament was opened on the 22d of May.
In Austria, the grand event of 1906 was the franchise reform, which extinguished the whole system of class representation and established a representative Parliament on the broad basis of a manhood vote. "Every male citizen who had completed his twenty-fourth year and was not under any legal disability was entitled to be registered as a voter after one year’s residence. Every male, including members of the Upper House, who had possessed Austrian citizenship for at least three years and had completed his thirtieth year, was eligible for election as a deputy; but members of the Upper House elected to the Lower could not sit in both at once. Voting was to be direct in all provinces. In Galicia, however, every constituency would return two deputies, each voter having one vote, so as to permit of the representation of racial minorities, the population being composed of Poles and Ruthenians. Voting was to be obligatory under penalty of a fine wherever a provincial Diet should so decide. This Bill was passed, in the face of the opposition of the Conservative and aristocratic members of both Houses and of the extreme representatives of the various nationalities, mainly through the influence of the Emperor. He regarded it as the only way to get rid of Parliamentary obstruction, and the best means of stimulating loyalty to the dynasty."
Two changes of Ministry occurred in Austria during 1906, Baron Gautsch, as Premier, giving way to Prince Hohenlohe in April, and the latter resigning in June, to be succeeded by Baron Beck. Count Goluchowski, who had been Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs since 1895, resigned in October, because of ill-feeling against him in Hungary, and was succeeded by Baron Aehrenthal.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1906 (January-April). At the Algeciras Conference on the Morocco question.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1907. Effects of universal and equalized suffrage in Austria.
Elections were held in Austria a few months after the passage of the law which introduced equal and universal male suffrage, and the character and disposition of the elected Reichsrath, which met in June, 1907, afforded indications of some remarkable effects from the extension and equalizing of the franchise. It was expected, of course, to popularize the Reichsrath, and break the domination of the upper classes in that body; but, according to reports, it has done much more. Prior to 1896, the members of the Abgeordncten or lower house of the Reichsrath, then numbering 353, were all divided into four sections, elected by four classes of people, as follows: 85 elected by the owners of large landed estates, 22 by chambers of commerce and manufactures; 115 by town taxpayers assessed for five florins of annual tax, and by doctors of universities; 131 by country taxpayers assessed for five florins yearly. In that year the membership was enlarged by an addition of 72, who were to be representatives of the whole people, elected by universal male suffrage, while the old classified representation remained as before. The new law has swept away the whole system of a classified representation, and the representative house is now leveled to one footing, as a body of deputies from the people at large.
The most conspicuous effect of this in the elections appears to have been a sudden break of the power which the German element in the much-mixed population of the Austrian dominion has been able to exercise hitherto. Hence, it must be the fact that the Germans hold far more than their proportion of the property which the old system represented, and derived from that, formerly, a weight in the Reichsrath which their numbers cannot give them on the equalized vote.
{39}
Altogether, in the various Cisleithan states—the two Austrias proper, Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia, Silesia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, Dalmatia—they form a little more than one third of the total population, the other two thirds being mainly Slavonic, in many divisions, principally Czech, Polish, and Slovene.
Ten years ago the Austrian Reichsrath was offering a spectacle of factious disorder so violent that it drew the attention of the world, and was made entertaining as well as interesting by Mark Twain, then a resident for some months at Vienna and writing descriptions of the scenes of tumult that went on before his eyes.
See in Volume VI. of this work AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1897 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
The specially bitter race quarrel was over a language question between the Germans and the Czechs. The Czechs had succeeded in forcing the government to give their own tongue its rightful public use in Bohemia, where the German had displaced it officially for along time past. The determination of the Germans in the Reichsrath to undo this change practically paralyzed that legislature for a number of years, and seemed to be driving the realm of the House of Austria to inevitable wreck.
Indeed, some factions of the Germans made no concealment of their wish for such a wreckage, out of which the German Kaiser at Berlin might pick the pieces that it pleased him to take. They have never doubted the sympathy and countenance of their kinsmen in the neighboring empire, and that has emboldened them to an attitude which a minority, in other circumstances, would hardly take.
Within the last few years there has been a quieting of the antagonism; but most observers of the state of things in Austria have looked for serious troubles to arise, whenever the great personal influence of the present Emperor is withdrawn by his death. The imperial dominion of the Austrian archdukes could not be dissolved and its parts redistributed without subjecting the peace of Europe to such a trial as it never yet has gone unbrokenly through. If the Germans lose disturbing power in the Reichsrath, as the late elections are said to indicate that they will, and if racial factions give place to political parties, as a consequence of the equalized and universalized suffrage, then Austria may possibly be welded into a nation, and her neighbors may not be tempted to quarrel over her dismembered remains.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1907. Final negotiation of a new financial Ausgleich. Adjustment of the vexed questions of tariff, joint debt, and revenue quotas.
The long struggle toward a readjustment of the _Ausgleich_ or Agreement of 1866 between Austria and Hungary, on its financial side, was brought to a close on the 8th of October, 1907, by the signing of a new agreement that day. It continued the common customs arrangement until 1917, and provided that commercial treaties concluded with foreign powers must be signed by the representatives of both Austria and Hungary—a concession by Austria to Hungary. Hitherto the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs had conducted such negotiations. On its part, Hungary made the minor concession of conforming its stock exchange laws to those of Austria. Previously, excise duties had been common to both states; henceforth they were to be left to each state to be determined and levied. In the joint fiscal burden, Hungary’s contribution was increased from 34.4 per cent to 36.4 per cent. Provision was made for a court of arbitration, composed of four Austrian and four Hungarian members, who must chose a ninth member as chairman.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909. Hungarian politics. The State Bank question. Split in the Independence party. M. de Justh, a new party leader. Attitude of M. Kossuth. Deadlock returned.
The complete deadlock of legislation in Hungary from 1904 into 1906 was overcome but partially, and not for long, by the patched-up coalition which started the wheels of Government anew, under Dr. Wekerle, in April, 1906, as related above. In the course of the next two years the Wekerle Ministry accomplished some useful legislation, besides achieving the ratification of the important tariff and commerce agreement which settled long-troublesome disputes with Austria; but its very slight coherent energy was exhausted soon,—too soon for its promise of universal suffrage to be fulfilled. Practically, it seems to have been at the end of its capabilities for some time before the spring of 1909, when, in April, it resolved to resign, and began an effort to escape from office which went on through the year without success. The Crown could induce no one to take from Dr. Wekerle the impossible task of government, and kept that unfortunate gentleman in his powerless place.
In Austro-Hungarian politics a new contention had now been developed, which divided the Independence party, led hitherto by M. Kossuth and Count Apponyi, so that it acquired on the new question a third more extreme sectional chief, in the person of the President of the Chamber, M. de Justh. The followers of M. de Justh were demanding the transformation of the existing joint State Bank into two autonomous banks, connected in operation, but distinctly Hungarian in one organization and Austrian in the other. This demand was opposed in Austria as determinedly as the obnoxious demand for army use of the Hungarian language in Hungarian regiments, and the Crown would give sanction to neither. Apparently, neither Kossuth nor Apponyi would act with M. de Justh on the bank question, and the Independence party lost, consequently, its advantage as the largest of the various parties in the Chamber.
In November, when a test of numbers occurred at a conference of the party, the following of M. de Justh was found to be largely in the majority. A resolution demanding the separate Hungarian State Bank was adopted by 120 votes against 74, despite a declaration by M. Kossuth that he would quit the party if it took that stand. According to a Press report of what occurred at the conference, the burden of Kossuth’s speech to the conference was "that without his name and his leadership the party would never have obtained the majority, and that many of those who were about to vote against him owed their seats in Parliament to his recommendation. His speech was indeed a scarcely-veiled threat that when deprived of the support of his name his opponents would find themselves forsaken by their constituents. The defeated minority proceeded forthwith to constitute itself as the ‘Independence, 1848, and Kossuth party,’ as distinguished from the ‘Independence and 1848 party,’ over which M. de Justh now reigns supreme."
{40}
Immediately after his triumph at the party conference M. de Justh resigned the presidency of the Hungarian Chamber and presented himself for reelection. In that test he suffered defeat, the combined forces of the Andrassy Liberals, the Clerical People’s party, and the Kossuth group casting 201 votes against 157. The Croatian Deputies abstained, owing, it is said, to a promise made to them by Dr. Wekerle that, if they remained neutral, he would deliver Croatia from the oppressive rule of the Ban, Baron Rauch. The political situation in Hungary was thus more than ever confused.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909. The "Greater Servia Conspiracy." Alleged treasonable movement of Servians in Croatia. The Agram trials.
The following telegram to the newspaper press, from Agram, Austria, October 5, 1909, reported the conclusion and the result of a long prosecution which had drawn wide attention and excited deep feeling in many parts of Europe for a full year:
"After a trial lasting seven months, sentences were handed down to-day in the cases of fifty-two school teachers, priests, and other persons charged with connection with what is known as the ‘Greater Servia conspiracy.’ The prisoners were accused of high treason in participating in a movement for the union of Croatia, Slavonia, and Bosnia to Servia, even carrying the propaganda among the troops of the Austro-Hungarian army. Thirty of the accused are condemned to terms of rigorous imprisonment varying from four to twelve years, and twenty-two were acquitted. The persons condemned have given notification of appeal."
On the 31st of December it was announced from Vienna that all but two of the condemned had been set at liberty pending their appeal, this being consequent on the revelations of forgery in the documents on which they were convicted.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH) at close of article.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909. Arbitrary annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Violence to the Treaty of Berlin. The European disturbance and its settlement.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1808-1809 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1909. The language quarrel in Austria.
"Amid deafening uproar from the Czech Radicals, the Austrian premier has submitted to the Chamber [February 3, 1909] two bills for the regulation of the Bohemian language question. The bills, which in present circumstances appear to have little chance of becoming law, divide Bohemia into 239 judicial and 20 administrative districts. Of the former, 95 are German, 138 Czech, and the remainder mixed, while of the administrative districts five are German, 10 Czech, and five mixed. In the German districts German is to be the predominant language, and in the Czech districts Czech, while in the mixed districts, which include Prague, the two languages are placed on an equal footing. Provision is, however, made for the use of either language if necessary throughout the whole province."
NEW YORK EVENING POST.
A telegram to the same journal from Vienna, March 10, reported:
"The Lower House of the Austrian Parliament, which closed on February 5, after a scene of extraordinary turbulence arising from old racial ill-feeling between the Germans and the Czechs, reopened to-day with every promise of a continuance of the disorders. The galleries of the House were crowded with partisans of the two factions, and as soon as the ministers appeared hostile shouts came from the Czech and radical benches, drowning the cheers of the members of the Left party and the Poles.
"Premier von Bienerth, amid an incessant tumult, declared the nineteenth session opened, saying he hoped the work would be crowned with success and the proceedings not disturbed. His statement sounded ironical in face of the unbroken uproar."
The following is a later Press despatch, November 2, from Vienna:
"The Emperor has accepted the resignations of the two Czech Ministers in the Austrian Cabinet, and has sanctioned the laws adopted by the Diets of Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg and Vorarlberg, to establish the unilingual German character of those provinces. In the name of the Czech people the Czech National Council addressed yesterday a telegram to the Emperor begging that the laws might not be sanctioned, since, runs the telegram, they affect the honour of the Czech people and must cause constant racial strife both in the provinces and in Vienna, ‘which is not only the capital of Lower Austria, but is also the capital of the whole empire and of all its races. These laws are a dangerous beginning of constitutional changes in your Majesty’s glorious empire.’ A copy of the telegram was sent to the Polish leader, Dr. Glombinski, with an 'expression of the deepest regret that members of the Polish party should have supported as Ministers these anti-Slav laws.’"
A revival of turbulent obstruction to legislative proceedings in the lower house of the Austrian Reichsrath led, at last, in December, to the enactment of rules which so enlarge the powers of the speaker as to enable him to suppress factious obstruction and to suspend deputies who outrage the decencies of behavior in the Chamber. The measure was limited in its operation to a year, but is expected to be prolonged.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1909 (December). Alleged plan of a Federated Triple Monarchy.
"There has been circulated in Paris a curious document, full of figures, supposed to be based on authentic information. This document relates to the plan attributed to Prince Lentur and Count d’Aehrenthal to change the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary into a triple monarchy. Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Dalmatia, according to the scheme, would be united into an independent and constitutional kingdom, corresponding to the old Illyria. The double state, Austria-Hungary, would be changed into a three-fold Austria-Hungary-Illyria. A Slav nation would thus stand side by side with the Teutonic nation of Austria and the Magyar nation of Hungary. Its extent would be a good deal smaller, a little more than one-third, of the other two, and its population about a quarter of the Hungarian and one-sixth of the Austrian. According to this document, which is declared to have strong claims to be considered authentic, this change would no doubt be followed by a further one. Bohemia and Moravia would also want home rule. The monarchy would thus become a kind of Federal state. Hungary alone would remain standing strong and united as the centre and leader of this federation."
_New York Evening Post, December 29, 1909._
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AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1909-1910. The Hungarian situation.
Late in December, Dr. de Lukacs, who had served in the former Szell Ministry, was persuaded by the Crown to undertake the formation of a Government which might hope to secure some measure of parliamentary support, and on the 4th of January he was formally appointed Prime Minister; but his undertaking ended on the 11th, when he resigned, and Count Khuen Hedervary was heroic enough to accept the apparently hopeless task. The Hedervary Ministry suffered defeat on the 28th of January, when a vote of no confidence was carried by M. de Justh, and the King thereupon prorogued the chamber until March 24. A majority of the members, however, remained in session until they had adopted a resolution declaring the Government to be unconstitutional and forbidding the payment of taxes to it. Such is the Hungarian situation at the time this record of events goes to print—February, 1910.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1910. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Heir Apparent to the thrones.
Since the tragically mysterious death (January 30, 1889) of the Emperor’s only son, Rudolph, the heir apparent to the several Hapsburgh crowns has been the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, son of the Emperor’s brother, the late Archduke Karl Ludwig. In order to contract a morganatic marriage, some years ago, he renounced the right of his children to the imperial and regal succession; but it is believed that he will force the regularizing of his marriage and the annulling of his renunciation, as he is reputed to be a man of strenuous will. According to report, also, he is strongly anti-democratic and reactionary, and extremely likely to give trouble as a sovereign to this democratic generation.
----------AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: End--------
AUTOCRAT: Title denied to the Czar by the Third Duma.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1906-1907.
AZAD-UL-MULK.
See (in this Volume) PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
AZEFF: The Russian police spy and agent provocateur.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-JULY).
AZUL, Party of the.
See (in this Volume) PARAGUAY.
B.
BABISM.
See (in this Volume) PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BACON, Robert: Secretary of State.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1909.
BADEN: A. D. 1906. Introduction of universal suffrage.
See (in this Volume) ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: GERMANY: A. D. 1906.
BAEYER, Adolf von.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
BAGDAD RAILWAY, The.
See (in this Volume) RAILWAYS: TURKEY: A. D. 1899-1909.
BA HAMED, Late Grand Wazeer of Morocco.
See (in this Volume) MOROCCO: A. D. 1903.
BAHIA HONDA: Coaling and naval station leased to the United States.
See (in this Volume) CUBA: A. D. 1903.
BAHIMA, The.
See (in this Volume) AFRICA: ITS COLONIZABILITY.
BAILEY, L. H.: On Country Life Commission.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909 (AUGUST-FEBRUARY).
BAKHMETIEFF, Madame: Her humane work in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1902-1903.
BAKHTIARI, The.
See (in this Volume) PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BAKU: Destruction of Oil Industry.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
BALDWIN ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
See (in this Volume) Polar Exploration.
BALFOUR, Arthur J.: Becomes Prime Minister of England.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 (JULY).
BALFOUR, Arthur J.: His puzzling attitude on Mr. Chamberlain’s declaration for preferential trade with the Colonies. Correspondence on Mr. Chamberlain’s resignation.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1903 (MAY-SEPTEMBER).
BALFOUR, Arthur J.: In the "Dreadnought" debate of 1909.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
BALFOUR MINISTRY: Its resignation.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
----------BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Start--------
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1903-1907. Complaint of European non-action by Christian subjects of Turkey.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1907.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Bosnia: A. D. 1908. Arbitrary annexation to Austria-Hungary.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Bulgaria: The influence of Robert College.
See (in this Volume) EDUCATION: TURKEY, &c.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1901. The Bulgarian committee which directs revolutionary operations and assassinations in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1901.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1903. Alleged promotion of revolt in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1902-1903.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1905-1908. Barbarities of Bulgarian bands in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1905-1908.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908. The race struggle in Macedonia.
See TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909. Independence of Turkey declared and won.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1909. Prince Ferdinand assumes the title of King.
On the acquisition of complete Bulgarian independence, Prince Ferdinand was said at first to be intending to assume the title of Tsar; but that intention, if it had been formed, was changed, and he took the title of King.
{42}
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Bulgaria and Servia: A.D. 1905. Customs Union Convention between the two States. Anger and Hostility of Austria. Dictatorial demands on Servia. The frontier closed to trade.
"Servia and Bulgaria, in July, 1905, signed a Customs Convention, creating a customs union and breaking down the tariff barriers between the two countries. The age is the age of union in business, in finance, in every department in life. … Not only has the Customs Convention between the two countries, which is, after all, but the first step towards a real zollverein, demonstrated the trend of international development, but it has enabled the world to see clearly the relations existing between the small Balkan States—unprotected by any guarantee of neutrality—and their great neighbours. It has been made clear that, despite all the many protestations in Vienna of goodwill to the Balkan States, Austria does not wish to see real progress in that part of Europe. And what is true of Austria is true also of Russia. …
"True to her unvarying policy, Austria no sooner heard of the Customs Convention than she set to work to destroy it, claiming that it damaged her commercial interests. By her unjust attempts at coercion, plain and undisguised, Austria brought into being a political bond between Bulgaria and Servia which was not in existence at the time of the signature of the Customs Convention. …
"In the past Servia has fallen more and more completely under the domination of Austria; her geographical position and her internal troubles made her an easy prey for Vienna, and had it not been for the desire of Russia to share the dainty morsel, Servia would in all probability have gone ere this to join the Servian provinces of Bosnia and Hersegovina as an integral part of the Austrian Empire. Her commerce is almost solely with Austria or Hungary, and her finances are under the control of a French-Austrian syndicate. It might therefore well seem incredible that the small State, bound thus hand and foot to the oppressor, should dare to oppose her desire for liberty to the Austrian desire for gain, political, commercial, or financial. But just as under the Turkish rule the Servians began to fight for freedom in small bands, so the Customs Convention with Bulgaria represents the first blow for economic and political freedom. … While the Convention represents an effort on Servia’s part to free herself from the thrall of Austria, it was not directed against that country. It seeks rather to open up new markets and new means of export, for which there was sufficient reason in the fact that there was no increase in the export of Servian goods to Austria during the last few years, some of which even showed a decrease. Commercial development demanded that new markets should be sought and a new route via Bulgaria to the Black Sea ports be opened up. …
"On January 8th the Austrian Minister in Belgrade presented a note from his Government making it a condition that in order that the negotiations for a commercial treaty should not be suspended, the Servian Government should engage not to bring the Customs Union before the Skouptchina before the conclusion of the treaty. At the same time he indicated the disastrous results of refusal on Servia’s part. The Servian Cabinet accepted the Austrian proposals as to the postponement of the presentation of the Customs Union to the Skouptchina, and promised also to consider the modification of the Convention in so far as these modifications were not contrary to the nature of the Customs Union. The Austrian Minister recommended a change of the reply, because his Government would not accept it as it stood. On the Servians refusing to make any change, he gave them till the afternoon of the next day to repent, with the alternative that the treaty negotiations would be broken off and the frontiers closed. … Servia insisted upon maintaining her dignity as a nation, while expressing her readiness to meet Austria in every possible economic way. Furious at the Servian refusal, the Viennese authorities ordered the closing of the frontiers to Servian cattle, pigs, and even fowls. This last restriction was contrary to the existing treaty of commerce between the two countries which does not expire till March 1st, 1906. The cattle and pigs were excluded under the arbitrary veterinary convention, it having been found that a pig had died of ‘diplomatic swine fever,’ a contagious disease, prevalent when Servia opposes Austrian desires. The cool indifference with which Austria ignored her treaty obligations with Servia led to a profound feeling that it was hardly worth making sacrifices in order to obtain a new commercial treaty, which could be as equally well ignored. Patriotic fervour waxed great in Servia, and the people prepared to make a good fight for their liberty. But it was never overlooked that the relations with Austria were of great and vital importance."
_Alfred Stead, The Serbo-Bulgarian Convention and its Results (Fortnightly Review, March, 1906)._
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Herzegovina: A. D. 1908. Annexation to Austria.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Montenegro: A. D. 1905. Prince Nicholas’s Constitution, and his operation of it.
"When Prince Nicholas heard that the Czar had promised his people a Constitution, he, disciple of Russia in all things, determined to outdo Nicholas II., and, as a matter of fact, granted his little country [December, 1905] a more liberal Constitution than that which Russia enjoys. In Russia certain things were not to be discussed in the Duma. In Montenegro, everything could be discussed. When this principle began to be put in practice, however, although in the most loyal and respectful manner, the Prince took offence and began to imprison politicians who dared to ask for information about the financial condition of the principality. As a consequence, he made himself unpopular among what in Russia would be called the ‘intelligencia,’ but, being a man of far stronger personality and more striking genius than the Czar of Russia, he is still feared and obeyed. He is, in fact, an old soldier with all the old soldier’s preference for barrack discipline as the only method of rule, and in thinking that he understood what is meant by the words ‘constitutional government’ he deceived himself, for he does not understand, and being an old man surrounded by flatterers, he is perhaps less able to understand now than he would have been thirty years ago.
"If he had been more adaptable, and had taken greater pains to instruct his people in the methods of parliamentary government, the constitutionalist movement might have been a success, but unfortunately he withdrew from Cettinje in a ‘huff’ when the Skupschina passed some criticisms on the government, and declined to coöperate with the deputies, though they were all very anxious to have his advice. It is stated, on the other hand, however, that the Skupschina interpreted in too large a sense the Constitution that had been granted to them."
_Special Correspondent New York Evening Post, Cettinje, December 15, 1908._
{43}
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909. With Servia against Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1809 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Roumania: A. D. 1866-1906. Development of the country under King Charles I. and his admirable Queen.
"The efforts of King Charles have been principally devoted towards internal improvement. Railways have increased and improved since the State purchased them in 1886, at an outlay of 237,500,000 francs. Then there were 1,407 kilometres; in 1903 these had increased to 3,177. In the Dobrudja, given to Roumania after the war with Turkey, the King has created a great commercial port at Constantza, whence the grain and petroleum of Roumania can flood the market. From here will radiate a Roumanian merchant marine, which will bear the Roumanian flag to all parts of the world. Agriculture has been carefully cherished, and to-day the country is one of the principal grain-exporting countries of the world, and the lot of the peasant, formerly so low, has been improved. An educational system has sprung into being, owing much to the direct support and inspiration of the Royal family. The finances have been put on a stable footing, and although the nation has already acquired a sufficiency of debt, the future is not at all dangerously beset. Thanks to the discovery of extensive petroleum fields, Roumania has been strengthened and raised from the position of a country relying solely on the rain and sun for its prosperity; while thanks to the King’s indefatigable efforts and unceasing watchfulness, the petroleum industry has been protected from becoming the monopoly either of the ruthless Standard Oil Trust or of the politically guided and government-supported German Bank. Had King Charles done nothing else for Roumania, his determined and wise action in this question would have earned him all praise. But whether it be in the question of the Danube, with its international Commission, or of the transformation of the twelve enormous Crown lands, dispersed over the kingdom, into national and social models, to see and follow—a work due principally to M. Kalindero—the King’s interest in all things which directly or indirectly touch Roumania is unabated.
"And what manner of man is this, who has thus created a European State out of the remnants of a land cursed by a Turkish rule and Phanariot sway? First and foremost he is always a Hohenzollern, swayed by his obedience to duty, and based upon that Hohenzollern saying: 'It is not enough to be born a prince, you must show that you are worthy of the title,' and second, he is ever a true Roumanian, who has caught much of the inspiration of those great former Roumanian leaders and warriors. His youth was one of discipline and healthy education, while the influence of his father on his character can never be overestimated. Every inch a king, he never forgets that he is always also a man—personal animosities never cloud his national judgment. An indefatigable worker and on an organised plan tending towards definite ends, King Charles devotes his whole time to his never-ceasing task. By his marriage to Princess Elizabeth of Wied’ [known in literature as Carmen Sylva] ‘a marriage so non-political as to make it a political event of the first importance,’ he brought to Roumania a queen who made herself beloved of all, and speedily became the centre of all charitable ideas and works."
_Alfred Stead, King Charles I. of Roumania (Fortnightly Review, July, 1906)._
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1902. Oppression of the Jews. Appeal of the United States to the signatories of the Treaty of Berlin.
On the 11th of August, 1902, Mr. John Hay, Secretary of State in the Government of the United States, addressed a communication to the American Ambassadors and Ministers in Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, and Turkey, whose governments were parties to the Berlin Treaty of 1878, directing that it be read to the proper ministers in the governments of those countries. The communication related to the treatment of the Jews in Roumania, which had long been a matter of deep concern to the United States, not only from sympathy with the persecuted people, but also because of the state in which it drove them as emigrants to this land. An abridgment of Secretary Hay’s despatch, published at the time, renders its substance as follows:
"As long ago as in 1872 this country protested against the oppression of these Jews under Turkish rule. The Treaty of Berlin it was supposed would cure this wrong by the provisions of its forty-fourth article, which prescribed that ‘in Roumania the difference of religious creeds and confessions shall not be alleged against any person as a ground for exclusion or incapacity in matters relating to the enjoyment of civil and political rights, admission to public employments, functions and honors, or the exercise of the various professions and industries in any locality whatsoever. These prescriptions, however, have, in the lapse of time, been rendered nugatory as regards the native Jews of Roumania. Apart from the political disabilities of the Jews in that country, and their exclusion from the liberal professions, they are denied the inherent rights of man as a breadwinner in the ways of agriculture and trade. They are prohibited from owning land or from cultivating it as common laborers; they are debarred from residing in the rural districts, and many branches of petty trade and manual production are closed to them in the cities. They have become reduced to a state of wretched misery. The experience of the United States shows that the Jews possess in a high degree the qualities of good citizenhood. No class of immigrants is more welcome to our shores when coming equipped in mind and body, but when they come as outcasts, made doubly paupers by physical and mental oppression in their native land, their migration lacks the essential conditions which make alien immigration either acceptable or beneficial. Many of these Roumanian Jews are forced to quit their native country, and the United States is almost the only refuge left to them. They come hither unfitted by the conditions of their exile to take part in the new life of this land, and they are objects of charity for a long time. Therefore the right of remonstrance against the acts of the Roumanian Government is fairly established in favor of this Government. This Government cannot be a tacit party to what it regards as an international wrong. It is constrained to protest against the treatment to which the Jews of Roumania are subjected. The United States is not a signatory to the Treaty of Berlin, and cannot, therefore, appeal authoritatively to the stipulations of that treaty, but it does earnestly appeal to the principles consigned therein, because they are the principles of international law and eternal justice."
{44}
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1907. Agrarian and anti-Semitic riots.
Serious riotings of the peasants of Roumania, in both Moldavia and Wallachia, occurred in April, 1907. Before the rising could be suppressed more than 100,000 troops were employed; the capital, Bucharest, was in a state of siege, and martial law was proclaimed throughout the country. At first the character of the uprising seems to have been purely agrarian. The peasants demanded land at low prices and tried to throw off the yoke of the middlemen, who are mostly Jews. As the revolt spread, villages, farms, and even some towns were plundered and destroyed by wholesale. Hundreds of peasants were killed, and in several sections a state of real war existed for more than a week. King Charles issued a proclamation to his people promising the redress of their grievances. The Conservative ministry resigned on March 24 and a Liberal government was at once formed under the presidency of Dr. Sturdza.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Servia: A. D. 1901-1903. Royal Constitution-making and unmaking.
The character of the Servian monarchy, and the value to the nation of its king-made Constitution, may be judged from the following report, May 12, 1903, to the State Department of the United States Government, by its Minister at Athens, who has the care of American interests at Belgrade: "The Servian constitution now in force is that which was granted the country by King Alexander on April 6-19, 1901. Under this constitution the influence of the radical party had gradually increased to such an extent that the King thought it was dangerous to the welfare of the country. For some time there were rumors to the effect that a new constitution was in contemplation and would probably be put into force on the anniversary of its predecessor. More or less excitement was caused by these reports, and in consequence the King determined to act at once.
"On the afternoon of March 24—April 6 last [1903] a royal proclamation was issued to the Servian people, explaining the King’s views of the situation, suspending the constitution referred to above, annulling the ukase of April 6, 1901, and all subsequent ukases relating to the election of senators, retiring all the members of the council of state, dissolving the Skupshtina (national chamber of deputies), annulling the election of all senators chosen for the period 1901-1906, annulling various laws relating to the liberty of the press, the election of deputies, etc., and putting into force certain laws which had previously been repealed.
"The next morning a second proclamation was issued, putting the same constitution in force again, and directing the life senators to elaborate a provisional law for the election of senators and deputies, who should hold office, respectively, until September, 1909, and May, 1907.
"The date for the elections has been fixed for the first part of June. It is considered probable that the Radical members of the Government (four ministers, I believe) will soon withdraw from the cabinet."
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1903. The murder of King Alexander, Queen Draga, her brothers, and two ministers of state. The military plot.
King Alexander, who received the Servian crown, as a mere boy, by the abdication of his father, the erratic King Milan, in 1889, began his reign autocratically, but attempted twelve years later, to propitiate popular favor by the grant of a liberal constitution, in 1901.
See, in Volume I. of this work, BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1879-1889.
This failed, however, to win the good will of his subjects, and he annulled it in April, 1903, with much of the legislation it had produced. This intensified public feeling against him, and against his unpopular Queen,—the former lady-in-waiting at his mother’s court, Madame Draga Maschin. This marriage in 1900 is related in:
See in Volume VI. of this work BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: SERVIA.
There were fears of an intention to force recognition of Queen Draga's brother as heir apparent to the crown, and feeling in the army became especially bitter against both king and queen. The outcome was an awful tragedy of murder on the night of June 11, 1903, when a party of officers broke into the palace and slew, with barbaric ferocity, the King, the Queen, the Queen’s brothers, the Prime Minister, and the Minister for War. The following account of the horrible tragedy appeared in the next issue of _The Contemporary Review:_
"All traces of the midnight carnage in the palace of Belgrade have been cleared away. The Pretender for whose benefit it was perpetrated comes in. First proclaimed in the midst of the still warm corpses, the title of military acclamation has been ratified by a National Assembly, convened by the Pretorians almost simultaneously with the massacre to meet three days after that event, and in the palace where Colonel Maschine and his lieutenants, acting in the names of outraged national dignity and social purity, put to shame human nature, Karageorgevich, whose career as a Pretender in some points resembles that of Louis Napoleon, accepts the proffered crown. The telegraphic agencies have informed us that order reigns at Belgrade, and that Peter I. has entered his capital amid demonstrations of public joy. The representatives of the Press of Europe, numbering about a hundred, were, through the civility of a palace official who witnessed the nocturnal invasion, taken through the theatre of one of the most revolting crimes of modern history. They were minutely informed of the circumstances connected with it, saw the smashed doors and floors where dynamite tubes had exploded, the pistol shots in walls and ceilings; the timepieces shaken by the explosion had stopped at five minutes past one on the morning of the 12th June. The palace official took them into the little wardrobe room in which the King and Queen had hidden themselves, and, when found, met their doom, unshriven, offering no resistance. …
{45}
"Officers who had studied in the Zurich Polytechnic school knew how to use dynamite without injury to themselves when they wanted to break in doors massive as those of a church. Those who had been told off to cut the electric wires communicating with lamps had indiarubber gloves. They searched by the light of composite candles they had brought in their pockets for the hiding-place of the King and Queen. When they discovered the fugitives, some of the officers held high the candles for their comrades to lay on and not spare the unfortunate pair. There was no attempt to resist. All Alexander wanted was ‘to die with Draga,’ and this elevated him into the region of romance. It may hereafter furnish a theme to Servian bards. Another modern circumstance makes one’s flesh creep. The bodies, flung out of a window, lay on a garden walk until dawn, when a soldier received an order to wash them there with a fireman’s hydrant, and when they had been cleansed to lay them on the tables of the palace kitchen for dissection. The surgeons had been requisitioned to come there at five o’clock. …
"At the post-mortem in the palace kitchen at Belgrade, the surgeons counted in the body of Alexander six revolver wounds, each deadly, and forty-two sword wounds. Draga received two pistol balls and sixty-two sword cuts and slashes. She had been cut to pieces, but they left her face unmutilated. And—still more frightful—her corpse bore black and blue marks that testified to a merciless pounding with strong fists. The regicides gave so many conflicting accounts of their adventure that one did not know what to believe. It is now certain that the King and Queen were defenceless, that they at once on being aroused by the dynamite took refuge in her wardrobe room, and that they never sought to escape by the roof, and did not run through a long suite of rooms, slamming the doors after them. They had not a moment’s time to utter a prayer.
"Draga’s brothers received a five minutes’ respite to make their souls. Nicodemus, the eldest, for whom Mademoiselle Pach mourns in Brussels, asked for cigars and for leave to embrace his brother. He and Nicholas faced unflinchingly a firing party, casting away the cigar ends as they stood before a wall. …
"Colonel Maschine, who figures as the ringleader in the conspiracy, had been in the inner circle of King Milan, who thought him a valuable officer. Milan, a man with considerable ability and without his match in playing an intricate and difficult diplomatic game, had been educated in his mother’s fast set in Vienna, and at a Paris lycée. … Military force as a means of government recommended itself to his barbarous mind. It may be that he saw in Maschine a man suitable for _coup d’état_ work. An ostensible reason for taking him into favour was Maschine’s bravery in the campaign against Bulgaria and his personal fidelity to Milan, as twice evinced in saving his life. The partiality of the King buoyed up Maschine’s hopes of a brilliant military career. Death overtook Milan, who so often had escaped poison and assassin’s bullets, on his way to Belgrade, where he was to have set Alexander aside and remounted the throne. His unexpected decease blighted the colonel’s prospects, inasmuch as Draga gained thereby uncontrolled influence over the King. She and the Maschines had long kept up a bitter feud. Barbarians like to brood over their grievances, real or imaginary. Colonel Maschine could not forget or forgive, and his pride prevented him from trying to propitiate her when she let him know that he thought her more intractable than she really was. He had set about the slander that she poisoned her first husband, and then made believe he committed suicide. This story had been told by the Colonel to Milan. Alexander, when his father repeated it to him, called it a ‘machination,’ the name he ever after gave to slanders and libels that came to his knowledge about Draga. He refused to hear calumnious tales, but could not prevent anonymous letters passing into the hands of his secretary, and spoke of the Court of Russia as being stupidly turned against his wife by ‘machinations.’ One can understand from this why Colonel Maschine became the soul of the horrible conspiracy, and bent his whole mind to carry out a plan which has succeeded, through his perfect generalship as to _ensemble_, the minutest attention to details, the widest prescience, the coolest head and an utter unscrupulousness."
_Ivanovich, The Servian Massacre (Contemporary Review, July, 1903)._
In the same issue of _The Contemporary_, Dr. Dillon wrote: "A graphic version of one scene of the tragedy, which was given to me by one of the murderers, Adjutant N., is as follows:
‘We were wild with passion, trembling with excitement, incapable of receiving any impressions from the things and people around us. Hence we cannot say who shot the King in the head, who in the heart. But I have a vivid recollection of some things. I remember turning out the electric light and going to fetch candles to light my comrades on the way. That done I remained together with them to the end. I remember our breaking into the King’s bedroom, finding it empty, and then looking into the Queen’s wardrobe room, where we found the pair. Who fired first? I don’t know; nobody knows. At first we did not fire at all. We drew our sabres and cut off the fingers of the King and Queen; four fingers were hewn from the King’s hand. Then we fired.’"
_E. J. Dillon, Servia and the Rival Dynasties (Contemporary Review, July, 1903)._
The hideous crime which ended the reign of King Alexander excited horror everywhere except in Servia. There it seemed to be approved and rejoiced over universally, even the head of the national Servian Church, the Metropolitan of Belgrade, officiating at a thanksgiving service and commending the army for what it had done. Senators and Deputies of the Skupstchina filled the vacant throne by the election of Prince Peter Karageorgievitch, descendant of Kara Georg (Black George), the primary hero of the later struggle of the Servians with the Turk. King Alexander had been of the house of Milosh Obrenovitch, founder of the Obrenovitch dynasty, which supplanted that of Kara Georg.
See in Volume I. of this work, BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14TH-19TH CENTURIES: SERVIA.
Prince Peter, then in exile at Geneva, accepted the blood-stained crown, and was welcomed at Belgrade on the 24th of June. Foreign governments, except those of Russia and Austria-Hungary, gave no recognition to the new sovereign for some time; but, said a writer in _The Fortnightly Review_ of the next month, "no thrill of horror has been manifested by the ‘dear brothers ’ and ‘cousins’ of the royal victims; on the very day of the holocaust, when the mangled corpses of a King and Queen were being exposed to the outrages of frenzied fiends, there was never a pause in the pomp and circumstance and revelry of European Courts. {46} But the ghastly details of the deed have appealed to the melodramatic instincts of the vulgar, arousing a morbid indignation throughout every land. What honest person could fail to be stirred by the story of the conspirators, sitting over their wine under the verandah of the Srbski Kruna, uproariously urging the gipsy band to play Queen Draga’s March before they sallied forth to hack her to pieces with their swords; by the airy apologies of the baffled murderers when they roused a citizen for axes and candles, wherewith to track down their victims in the sleeping palace; by the thought of the ill-starred young Sovereigns lying in their own gardens, riddled with bullets, sighing through the small hours for the long-delayed relief of death? In the pages of ancient or mediaeval history, even in sensational fiction, such hellish horrors could not fail to arouse intense emotion; in the cold glare of the twentieth century they are brought home so vividly that we are almost eye-witnesses."
_Herbert Vivian, A ‘Glorious Revolution’ in Servia (Fortnightly Review, July, 1903)._
A general election in September gave the Radicals a decisive majority in the Skupstchina, and a Radical Ministry under General Gruiteh was formed.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1904. Coronation of King Peter.
King Peter was anointed and crowned with due ceremony, at Zicha, on the 9th of October, 1904. Representatives of all the Powers in Europe except Great Britain did honor to the occasion by their presence; thus condoning the foul crime which smeared the new King’s crown with blood. The officers who committed the crime had been dismissed from their palace posts, but rewarded by military promotion.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909. Attitude toward Austria on the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909. The alleged "Greater Servia Conspiracy." The Agram Trials.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1909. Renunciation of the crown by the Crown Prince.
The following note was addressed to the Prime Minister of Servia by the Crown Prince, George, on the 25th of March, 1909: "Driven by unjustified insinuations based on an unfortunate occurrence, I beg in defence of my honour, as well as of my conscience, to declare that I renounce all claims to the Throne, as well as any other privileges to which I am entitled. I beg you to take note of this, and to take the necessary steps that this action may receive the necessary sanction. I place my services as a soldier and citizen at the disposal of my King and Fatherland, ready to give my life for them. —George."
The "unfortunate occurrence" alluded to was the death of one of the Prince’s servants from injuries which the Prince was believed by the public to have inflicted, as he was reputed to have a brutal temper.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Servia and Bulgaria: A.D. 1905. Customs Union Convention.
See above: BULGARIA AND SERVIA.
----------BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: End--------
BALLINGER, Richard A.: Secretary of the Interior, United States.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909 (MARCH).
BALLINGER, Richard A.: Action against Water Power Monopoly.
See (in this Volume) COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909.
BALLOONS, Dirigible.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT.
BALTIC FLEET, The Russian: Its voyage and destruction.
See (in this Volume) JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (OCTOBER-MAY).
BALTIC PROVINCES: Peasant insurrection.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
BALTIMORE: A. D. 1904. Destructive fire.
Next to that at Chicago in 1871, the most destructive fire among the many that have devastated the cities of the United States occurred at Baltimore on February 7th and 8th, 1904. It burned for thirty hours, in the heart of the city, the center of its business, destroying some 2600 buildings and consuming property to the estimated value of $75,000,000.
BAMBAATA.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: NATAL: A. D. 1906-1907.
BANNARD, Otto T.:
See (in this Volume) NEW YORK CITY: A. D. 1909.
BARCELONA: A. D. 1902. General strike and battle with soldiery.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: SPAIN.
BARCELONA: A. D. 1909. Revolutionary outbreak. Trial and execution of Professor Ferrer.
See (in this Volume) SPAIN: A. D. 1907-1909.
BARCELONA: A. D. 1909. Riotous hostility to war in Morocco.
See MOROCCO: A. D. 1909.
BARGE (ERIE) CANAL, The.
See (in this Volume) NEW YORK STATE: A. D. 1898-1909.
BARNATO, Harry. Bequest for cancer research.
See (in this Volume) PUBLIC HEALTH.
BARRETT, Charles Simon: President of the National Farmers’ Union.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1909.
BARRETT, John.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS, INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF.
BARRETT, John. Delegate to Second International Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BARTHOLDT, Richard.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1904-1909, and 1907.
BARTON, Sir Edmund: Premier of Australia.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1903-1904.
BAST, The taking of.
See (in this Volume) PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
BASUTOLAND:
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1904, and 1909.
BAVARIA: A. D. 1906. Introduction of direct voting.
See (in this Volume) ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: GERMANY: A. D. 1906.
BEATIFICATION OF JOAN OF ARC.
See (in this Volume) PAPACY: A. D. 1909 (APRIL).
BECHUANALAND: A. D. 1904. Census.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1904, and 1909.
BECK, Baron.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906.
BECQUEREL, Henri.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE, RECENT: RADIUM; also, NOBEL PRIZES.
"BEEF TRUST," The: Investigations and prosecutions by the U. S. Government.
See (in this Volume) COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1906; 1903-1906; and 1910.
{47}
BEERNAERT, M.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES
BEHRING, Emil Adolf von.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
BEIRUT: Joy over the restored constitution of Turkey.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D). 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
----------BELGIUM: Start--------
BELGIUM: A. D. 1870-1905. Increase of population compared with other European countries.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1870-1905.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1900-1904. Municipal systems of insurance against unemployment.
See (in this Volume) POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF: UNEMPLOYMENT.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1902. Popular opposition to the plural vote. Demand for constitutional revision defeated. General strike in the country.
Substantially universal but not equal suffrage is given to the male citizens of Belgium by the Constitution of the kingdom as revised in 1893.
See in Volume I. of this work, CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM.
All have one vote, but certain classes of persons, qualified by property ownership, tax-payments, education, office-holding or professional dignity, are given one or two supplementary votes. Opposition to this political inequality had been growing from the first, until it united the Socialist and Liberal parties in a demand for the revision of the Constitution, not only to abolish the plural suffrage, but to introduce proportional representation and compulsory education. The agitation attending this demand brought about, in April, a general strike throughout the country of workmen in all departments of industry, to the extent of 350,000. The Government resisted the demand, maintaining that the system of plural voting had not been sufficiently tried, and the bill for constitutional revision was defeated in the Chamber of Representatives, after a bitter debate, by 84 votes to 64.
The situation was described as follows by Mr. Townsend, the American Minister to Belgium, in a despatch of April 19:
"The struggle between labor and capital in Belgium has become extremely acute in the past few years. A large industrial population, confined to a small superficial area, with long hours of labor and small wages, have combined to produce a feeling of discontent among the working classes, who, perhaps unjustly, blame the existing Government for a condition of affairs which may be due to economic conditions rather than political. This is a factor which may be largely responsible for the rapid growth of Socialism in Belgium during the past few years. Liberals and Socialists have combined to fight for universal suffrage, and have raised the cry ‘one man one vote’ as a panacea for the existing ills.
"The Clericals maintain that the existing system of plural voting meets the present requirements of the country; that it places a premium on education, and acts as a check to the power of the ignorant, who are prone to resort to violence and disorder. The more moderate Liberals in the House of Representatives expressed a willingness to accept a compromise in the shape of a total abolition of the triple vote, granting one vote at 25 years and a second vote to married men of 35 or 40 years, with legitimate issue. The Clericals, however, would not consider a compromise and opposed revision in any form.
"During the past fortnight, while the debates on the subject of revision were being held in the House of Representatives, the socialists and workingmen have held nightly meetings at the Maison du Peuple, and have frequently paraded the streets shouting for universal suffrage and ‘one man one vote.’ The Liberal members, as well as some of the socialist leaders in the House, have cautioned the paraders to be calm, to avoid violence and disorder. But the ranks of the paraders have been swelled by the addition of the representatives of the very lowest and criminal classes of the population, the result being a conflict with the police followed by the breaking of windows and other damages to property. Shots were exchanged between the gendarmes and rioters, several of the latter being killed and wounded. Similar scenes were at the same time enacted in other towns in Belgium, consequently the Government called out the troops. Order has been restored, but the streets of Brussels, as well as the large towns, are lined with soldiers. A general strike has taken place in all the industrial centers of Belgium, with the avowed object of forcing the Government to grant universal suffrage, but without success. The feeling of unrest is very general all over the country."
_Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1902, page 85._
BELGIUM: A. D. 1903. Enactment to compensate workmen for injurious accidents.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: BELGIUM: A. D. 1903.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1903. Agreement for settlement of claims against Venezuela.
See (in this Volume) VENEZUELA: A. D. 1902-1904.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1903-1905. King Leopold’s administration of the Congo State.
See (in this Volume) CONGO STATE: A. D. 1903-1905.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1904. Liberal gains in the elections, at the expense of the Catholics and Socialists.
Belgian elections, in May, reduced the majority by which the Clericals still retained control of the Government, and took six seats in the representative chamber from the Socialists, adding in all nine to the representation of the Liberal party. The latter continued, with no success, its demand for a revision of the Constitution, especially for the abolition of the plural vote, which gives the Church party its majority in Parliament, while its voters are an actual minority of the nation.
Belgian feeling on the subject of the charges of brutal oppression in the Congo Free State was deeply stirred, and its current ran strongly against the accusers of the King. The public in general appears to have been fully persuaded that interested motives were actuating the whole criticism of Congo administration, and that the stories of inhumanity to the natives were wholly false.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1906. At the Algeciras Conference on the Morocco question.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1908. North Sea and Baltic agreements.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1908 (October). Annexation of the Congo State.
See (in this Volume) CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1909. New military law. Compulsory service with no substitution.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: BELGIAN.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1909 (October). The Government’s programme of reforms in the Congo State.
See CONGO STATE: A. D. 1909 (OCTOBER).
{47}
BELGIUM: A. D. 1909 (December). Death of King Leopold. Accession of King Albert.
On the 17th of December, 1909, King Leopold died. He was succeeded on the throne by Prince Albert, son of his brother, the Count of Flanders. Of the new King, who was born in 1875, it was said by The Times, of London: "The happiest expectations are cherished in Belgium for the new King’s reign. He has shown, together with his gracious Consort, that desire to identify himself with the interests of the humblest of his subjects which we are accustomed to admire among the characteristic merits of our own Royal Family. He was naturally precluded by his position from taking any part in the controversies connected with the Congo, but it may reasonably be thought that if his uncle’s life had been less prolonged the constitutional difficulties raised by the ‘Congo question’ would have been avoided. He is known to have been painfully impressed by the need of reform during his recent visit to the colony."
----------BELGIUM: End--------
BELL, Richard: Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1909.
BENEDICTINES: Forbidden to teach in France.
See (in this Volume) France: A. D. 1908.
BENGAL: A. D. 1905. Partition of the Province.
See (in this Volume) INDIA: A. D. 1905-1909.
BEQUESTS.
See GIFTS.
BERESFORD, Admiral Lord Charles: On the "Dreadnought."
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: DREADNOUGHT ERA.
BERKELEY, California: Perfect example of the "Commission Plan" of Government.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: CALIFORNIA.
BERLIN: A. D. 1903. Sweeping victory of Socialists in Imperial election.
See (in this Volume) GERMANY: A. D. 1903.
BERLIN: A. D. 1905. Strike in electrical industries.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: GERMANY.
BERLIN TREATY OF 1878, Violations of the.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BETHMANN-HOLLWEG, Dr. von: Appointed Chancellor of the German Empire.
See (in this Volume) GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909, AND 1909 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
"BIG SIX," The.
See (in this Volume) Combinations, Industrial: United States: A. D. 1903-1906. The "Beef Trust."
BIRRELL, Augustine, President of the Board of Education.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1905 (DECEMBER), and 1905-1906.
BIRRELL, Augustine, Chief Secretary for Ireland. Proposed Councils Bill for Ireland.
See (in this Volume) IRELAND: A. D. 1907 (MAY).
BISWAS, Ashutosh, Assassination of.
See (in this Volume) INDIA: A. D. 1907-1908.
BITUMINOUS COAL STRIKES.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES.
BJORNSON, Bjornstjerne.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
BLACK HAND, The.
See (in this Volume) CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY.
BLERIOT, Louis.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: AERONAUTICS.
BLIND, Karl: On the "Young Turks."
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
"BLOC," Chancellor Bülow’s: Incongruous coalition in the German Reichstag.
See (in this Volume) GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.
Its break.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
"BLOODY SUNDAY."
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
BOARDS OF CONCILIATION.
See Labor Organization: GERMANY: A. D. 1905-1906.
BOBRIKOFF, Governor-General of Finland: His assassination.
See (in this Volume) FINLAND: A. D. 1904.
BOER-BRITISH WAR, Last year of the.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BOERS, The: Repatriation and resettlement.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1903.
BOERS, The: Active in movement for South African Union.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BOGOLIEPOFF, M., Assassination of.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
BOLIVIA: A. D. 1901-1906. Participation in Second and Third International Conferences of American Republics, at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume) American Republics.
BOLIVIA: A. D. 1901. Broad Treaty of Arbitration with Peru.
See (in this Volume) ARBITRATION, INTERNATIONAL: A. D. 1902 (NOVEMBER).
BOLIVIA: A. D. 1903-1909. Boundary disputes in the Acre region with Brazil and Peru.
See (in this Volume) ACRE DISPUTES.
BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, The Bubonic Plague in.
See (in this Volume) Public Health: Bubonic Plague.
BONAPARTE, Charles J.: Secretary of the Navy and Attorney-General.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1909.
BOND, Sir Robert: Premier of Newfoundland. Negotiation of the Hay-Bond Reciprocity Treaty.
See (in this Volume) NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1902-1905.
BOND, Sir Robert: At the Imperial Conference of 1907.
See (in this Volume) British Empire: A. D. 1907.
BOND, Sir Robert: Resignation and defeat at election.
See (in this Volume) NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1908-1909.
BONHAM, Captain W. F.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1903.
BONILLA, General Manuel: Revolutionary President of Honduras.
See (in this Volume) CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1903, and 1907.
BONUS SYSTEM, The.
See (in this Volume) LABOR REMUNERATION: THE BONUS SYSTEM.
"BOODLERS," so called, in municipal government.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
BORSTAL SYSTEM, The.
See (in this Volume) CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: PREVENTIVE DETENTION.
BOSHIN CLUB.
See (in this Volume) JAPAN: A. D. 1909.
BOSNIA.
See (in this Volume) BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES.
BOSTON: A. D. 1904. International Peace Congress.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1904.
BOSTON: A. D. 1909. New plan of city government chosen by popular vote.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
{49}
BOTHA, GENERAL LOUIS: In the closing year of the Boer-British War.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BOTHA, GENERAL LOUIS: Premier of the Transvaal. At the Imperial Conference of 1907.
See BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
BOTHA, GENERAL LOUIS: Leader in movement for South African Union.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BOURGEOIS, Leon: President of the French Chamber of Deputies.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1902. (APRIL-OCTOBER).
BOURGEOIS, Leon: President of Chamber of Deputies.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1903.
BOURGEOIS, Leon: Minister of Foreign Affairs.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1906.
BOURSE LAW, German: Revision of it.
See (in this Volume) GERMANY: A. D. 1908.
BOURSES DU TRAVAIL.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: France: A. D.1884-1909.
BOXER OUTBREAK, The: Penalty paid by China for it.
See (in this Volume) CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.
BOXER OUTBREAK, The: Recurrence of.
See (in this Volume) CHINA: A. D. 1902.
BOYCOTTING: In China: The boycotting of the United States in 1905.
See (in this Volume) RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.
BOYCOTTING: In India.
See INDIA: A. D. 1905-1906.
BOYCOTTING: In Ireland: The recent practice.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1902-1908.
BOYCOTTING: In Turkey, of Austrian commodities.
See EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BOYCOTTING: In the United States: By Trade Unions. Decisions of courts.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
BRADDON SECTION, The.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1910.
BRANCO, Baron do Rio.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS: THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.
BRAUN, Ferdinand.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1901-1902. Participation in Second International Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1902. Inauguration of President Alves.
Dr. Rodriguez Alves was inducted in office as President of the United States of Brazil on the 15th of November, 1902, succeeding Dr. Campos Salles.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1903. Settlement of boundary dispute with Bolivia.
See (in this Volume) ACRE DISPUTES.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1904. An impromptu Revolt that became a comedy of errors.
"To the American who is under the impression that all South America is continually in the throes of one or another revolution it will come as a surprise to learn that this vast district, comprising one half the territory and almost two thirds the population of the whole continent, has known no revolution since the founding of the Republic. The revolts of 1893, 1897, and 1904, menacing in varying degree, were outbursts fostered by a centralization of national vitality which inspired the belief in each insurrectionist that it was but necessary to strike the head,—the body would lie dormant. The justification of this belief lay in the historical fact that the vast majority of successful revolts throughout South America have consisted merely in _coups d'état_. The masses _have_ lain dormant, and the fighting, if any, has generally come after the somersault.
"The revolt of November of last year in Brazil was so typical of South American revolutions, and so elementary, that it affords a lucid illustration. Owing to the prompt and efficient measures taken by the government to suppress true reports of the disturbance, and owing, too, to its signal failure, this revolt was scarcely mentioned by the American press. Nevertheless, it missed by little causing international commotion. …
"A great epidemic of smallpox led the government to require of Congress a law making vaccination compulsory. Long and heated debate on the constitutionality of the measure went on, while the epidemic assumed alarming proportions. The Executive’s patience being worn out, arbitrary pressure was brought to bear, and the law passed. This intervention brought down the general censure of the press, and the opposition seized the handle with disproportionate avidity. On the eleventh of November a mass meeting was held in one of the central squares of Rio Janeiro. … The mounted police broke up the meeting with the flat of the sword: no lives were lost. On the following day the scene was duplicated, several people injured, and a life lost. By night riots had broken out in various parts of the city.
"Up to the fourteenth of November, revolution was not even rumored. … Toward evening city and government were genuinely surprised by the news that General Travassos, who was to have commanded a battalion in the review, immediately upon the announcement of its postponement had proceeded to the Military Academy on the outskirts of the city, and, before the student body, had demanded of the officer in charge transfer of his command. Frightened by the attitude of the cadets, the commanding officer made a puerile protest, and surrendered. He and his staff were allowed to withdraw, and carried the news of the revolt to the city. It was soon confirmed: the cadets were advancing on the President’s palace, under the leadership of General Travassos. …
"The shortest line of march was along the bay front, and to repulse the attack were sent by land a battalion of the line reinforced by police, and by sea two gunboats under the play of searchlights from an armored cruiser. The cadets marched under the assurance that no soldier of the line would fire on them, as the army was back of the movement. … They were met by an armed force, indistinguishable owing to the destruction of all the lamps by rioters. The force was the advancing battalion, and it is generally believed that it fired on the cadets, mistaking them for the returning body of police which had followed the water front. Brisk fighting ensued, when suddenly the cry arose among the cadets that they had been betrayed, and were attacked by soldiers of the line. They broke and made a disorderly retreat to the Academy. Almost simultaneously the soldiers learned their mistake, and that they had opposed a commanding officer; and they turned in precipitous flight. General Travassos was mortally wounded in the engagement. …
{50}
"Meanwhile the detachment of police dispatched from the city had advanced along the bay front to the stone quarry, where they awaited the rebels. Drawn up at this spot under close formation, they were mistaken by the gunboats for the cadets, and were made the target of a disastrous hail of bullets from quick-firing guns. Their retreat also was precipitous.
"Such was the comedy of errors which will be known as the Revolt of 1904. Its net results were a rude but salutary recall of the government to watchfulness; added prestige abroad for the government, vouched by a rise in its bonds; and, most significant of all, spontaneous and immediate support of the Chief Executive from neighboring states. And yet the credit was not due to the government, which avowedly had been caught napping, but to the Goddess of Chance, the arbiter of every _coup d'état._"
_G. A. Chamberlain, The Cause of South American Revolutions (Atlantic Monthly, June, 1905)._
BRAZIL: A. D. 1904. Settlement of boundary between Brazil and British Guiana.
By the decision of the King of Italy, to whom the boundary question in dispute between Brazil and British Guiana had been referred, the line separating the territories of the two states was defined, as drawn by Nature, along the watershed, starting from Mount Yakontipu and running easterly to the source of the river Mahu, thence down that river to the Tacuta and up the latter to its source, where it touches the boundary already determined. Both countries to have free navigation of the rivers in question.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1906. Presidential Election.
The quadrennial presidential election occurring in Brazil in the spring of 1906 raised Dr. Alfonso Moreira Penna from the Vice-Presidency to the Presidency of the Republic, with no disturbance of its quiet.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1906. German Colonies.
"Already 500,000 Germans, emigrants and their offspring, are resident in Brazil. The great majority of them, it is true, have embraced Brazilian citizenship, but their ideals and ties are essentially and inviolably German. In the south, where they are thickest, they have become the ruling element. German factories, warehouses, shops, farms, schools and churches dot the country everywhere. German has superseded Portuguese, the official language of Brazil, in scores of communities. Twenty million pounds of vested interests—banking, street railroads, electric works, mines, coffee-plantations, and a great variety of business undertakings—claim the protection of the Kaiser’s flag. A cross-country railway and a still more extensive projected system are in the hands of German capitalists. The country’s vast ocean traffic, the Amazon river shipping, and much of the coasting trade are dominated by Germans.
"Over and above this purely commercial conquest, however, looms a factor of more vital importance to North American susceptibilities—namely, the creation of a nation of Germans in Brazil. That is the avowed purpose of three German colonising concerns, which have become lords and masters over 8,000 square miles of Brazilian territory, an area considerably larger than the kingdom of Saxony, and capable of dwarfing half-a-dozen German Grand Duchies. It is the object of these territorial syndicates to people their lands with immigrants willing to be ‘kept German’—a race of transplanted men and women who will find themselves amid conditions deliberately designed to perpetuate ‘Deutschthum,’ which means the German language, German customs, and unyielding loyalty to German economic hopes."
_F. W. Wile, German Colonisation in Brazil (Fortnightly Review, January, 1906)._
"The talk about German exploitation of Brazil for colonization purposes is pure buncombe. The writer has visited the southern Brazilian provinces of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina, and Parana, where most of the Germans reside, and he has seen no more reason for Brazil to fear ulterior purposes on the part of Germany than has the United States because Germans form a large percentage of the population of New York, Chicago, and Milwaukee. The Germans make excellent Brazilian citizens, while loving the Fatherland from association and respecting the Emperor for his great personality."
_John Barrett, The United States and Latin America (North American Review, September 21, 1906)._
See (in this Volume), also, GERMANY: A. D. 1904.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1906. Third International Conference of American Republics at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1907. Adoption of obligatory military service.
By a law enacted in 1907 military service was made obligatory.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1908. Dreadnought building.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1908-1909. Increasing immigration.
See (in this Volume) IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1909. Frontier agreements and demarcations.
The Message of President Penna to Congress, May 3, 1909, contained the following announcements:
"On September 15 last, a treaty between Brazil and Holland was finally approved at The Hague, to determine the limits of our frontier with the Colony of Surinam or Dutch Guiana. The demarcation of the new frontier line between Brazil and Bolivia in Matto Grosso is now completed, and awaits only the approval of the two Governments interested. The same mixed commission to which was intrusted this survey will now proceed to reconnoitre the head-waters of the Rio Verde. The Government of the French Republic proposes the appointment of a mixed commission for the demarcation of the common boundary established on December 1, 1900, by arbitration of the Swiss Federal Council. An agreement will shortly be arrived at with Great Britain to determine the frontier of Brazil with British Guiana."
BRAZIL: A. D. 1909. Death of President Penna. Accession of the Vice-President.
Dr. Alfonso Penna, President of Brazil, died suddenly on the 14th of June, 1909, and was succeeded in the office by the Vice-President, Señor Nilo Pecanha, who will fill out the presidential term, ending November 15, 1910. Meantime an active canvass of candidates for the succeeding term has been in progress, the names most discussed being those of General Hermes de Fonseca, Baron Rio Branco, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Señor Ruy Barbosa, a prominent advocate.
----------BRAZIL: End--------
BRENNAN MONO-RAIL SYSTEM.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION: RAILWAYS.
BRIAND, Aristide: in the Ministry of France as Minister of Public Instruction and Public Worship.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1906.
{51}
BRIAND, Aristide: Prime Minister of France.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1909 (JULY).
BRIAND, Aristide: On the French secular or neutral schools and the clerical attack on them.
See (in this Volume) EDUCATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1909.
BRENT, Bishop: Service on International Opium Commission and on Philippine Committee.
See (in this Volume) Opium Problem.
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA: Its parts suitable for European Settlement.
See (in this Volume) AFRICA.
BRITISH COLUMBIA: A. D. 1901-1902. Census. Increased representation in Parliament.
See (in this Volume) CANADA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BRITISH EAST AFRICA: Its habitability by whites.
See (in this Volume) AFRICA.
----------THE BRITISH EMPIRE: Start--------
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A Census of the Empire.
In March, 1906, a "Census of the British Empire"—the first ever undertaken—was published as a Parliamentary Blue Book. Its preparation had been proposed by Mr. Chamberlain, who suggested, while Colonial Secretary, that the figures of the census of the United Kingdom in 1901 should be collated with those of other portions of the empire, to be analyzed, tabulated, and published as a whole. A full realization of the plan of collation had been found impracticable, owing to the wide differences of circumstance and of the forms of census-taking in different parts of the Empire; but many summings up of highly interesting and important facts were obtained.
The territory covered by the British Empire was shown to be 11,908,378 square miles, being an increase of 40 per cent. since 1861, and embracing more than a fifth of the land surface of the globe. This exceeds the area of the Russian Empire (European and Asiatic) by more than three millions of square miles. It is nearly three times the area of the Chinese Empire, and more than three times that of the United States and their exterior possessions. An exact count of population in all regions of the Empire was impossible, but the estimated total is 400,000,000, of which 300,000,000 is assigned to Asia and 43,000,000 to Africa. The United Kingdom contains 41,500,000, British America 7,500,000, Australasia, 5,000,000, the Mediterranean possessions 500,000, and there are 150,000 in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Classified by religion, there 208,000,000 Hindus, 94,000,000 Mohammedans, 58,000,000 Christians, 12,000,000 Buddhists, and 23,000,000 of other religions—Parsees, Confucians, Jews, Sikhs, and Jains, over whom Edward VII. of England reigns as Emperor or King. His Asiatic subjects alone are three-fourths as many as the Emperor of China is supposed to rule, and considerable more than twice the number that live within the whole sweep of the scepter of the Tsar.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1902. Conference at London with the Prime Ministers of the self-governing Colonies. Address of the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain. Results of the Conference.
Taking advantage of the presence in London of the Prime Ministers of the various self-governing colonies of Britain, on the occasion of the coronation of King Edward VII., a Conference with them, touching questions of general interest, was arranged by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Chamberlain, in meetings which extended from June to August, 1902. The proceedings were confidential, and no report of discussions made public; but the resulting resolutions, together with the opening address of the Colonial Secretary, and certain statements on subjects considered, are printed in a Parliamentary paper (Cd. 1299) from which the following account of the Conference is derived:
Mr. Chamberlain in his address argued strongly and with feeling for a political federation of the Empire. He said: "I may be considered, perhaps, to be a dreamer, or too enthusiastic, but I do not hesitate to say that, in my opinion, the political federation of the Empire is within the limits of possibility. I recognize as fully as any one can do the difficulties which would attend such a great change in our constitutional system. I recognise the variety of interests that are concerned: the immense disproportion in wealth and the population of the different members of the Empire, and above all, the distances which still separate them, and the lack of sufficient communication. These are difficulties which at one time appeared to be, and indeed were, insurmountable. But now I cannot but recollect that similar difficulties almost, if not quite as great, have been surmounted in the case of the United States of America. And difficulties, perhaps not quite so great, but still very considerable, have been surmounted in the federation of the Dominion of Canada. … We have no right to put by our action any limit to the Imperial patriotism of the future; and it is my opinion that, as time goes on, there will be a continually growing sense of the common interests which unite us, and also, perhaps, which is equally important, of the common dangers which threaten us. At the same time I would be the last to suggest that we should do anything which could by any possibility be considered premature. We have had, within the last few years, a most splendid evidence of the results of a voluntary union without any formal obligations, in the great crisis of the war through which we have now happily passed. The action of the self-governing Colonies in the time of danger of the motherland has produced here a deep and a lasting impression. … I feel, therefore, in view of this it would be a fatal mistake to transform the spontaneous enthusiasm which has been so readily shown throughout the Empire into anything in the nature of an obligation which might be at this time unwillingly assumed or only formally accepted. The link which unites us, almost invisible as it is sentimental in its character, is one which we would gladly strengthen, but at the same time it has proved itself to be so strong that certainly we would not wish to substitute for it a chain which might be galling in its incidence. And, therefore, upon this point of the political relations between the Colonies and ourselves. His Majesty’s Government, while they would welcome any approach which might be made to a more definite and a closer union, feel that it is not for them to press this upon you. The demand, if it comes, and when it comes, must come from the Colonies. If it comes it will be enthusiastically received in this country.
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"And in this connection I would venture to refer to an expression in an eloquent speech of my right honorable friend, the Premier of the Dominion of Canada—an expression which has called forth much appreciation in this country, although I believe that Sir Wilfrid Laurier has himself in subsequent speeches explained that it was not quite correctly understood. But the expression was, ‘If you want our aid call us to your councils.’ Gentlemen, we do want your aid. We do require your assistance in the administration of the vast Empire, which is yours as well as ours. The weary Titan staggers under the too vast orb of its fate. We have borne the burden for many years. We think it is time our children should assist us to support it, and whenever you make the request to us, be very sure that we shall hasten gladly to call you to our councils. If you are prepared at any time to take any share, any proportionate share, in the burdens of the Empire, we are prepared to meet you with any proposal for giving to you a corresponding voice in the policy of the Empire. And the object, if I may point out to you, may be achieved in various ways. Suggestions have been made that representation should be given to the Colonies in either, or in both, Houses of Parliament. There is no objection in principle to any such proposal. If it comes to us, it is a proposal which His Majesty’s Government would certainly feel justified in favourably considering, but I have always felt myself that the most practical form in which we could achieve our object would be the establishment or the creation of a real council of the Empire, to which all questions of Imperial interest might be referred, and if it were desired to proceed gradually, as probably would be our course—we are all accustomed to the slow ways in which our Constitutions have been worked out—if it be desired to proceed gradually, the Council might in the first instance be merely an advisory council. But, although that would be a preliminary step, it is clear that the object would not be completely secured until there had been conferred upon such a Council executive functions, and perhaps also legislative powers, and it is for you to say, gentlemen, whether you think the time has come when any progress whatever can be made in this direction."
Turning naturally from this to the subject of imperial defence, Mr. Chamberlain gave the substance of a paper which would be submitted to the Conference, exhibiting comparatively the naval and military expenditure of the United Kingdom and of the different self-governing colonies. The cost of the armaments of the United Kingdom had increased enormously since 1897, and "that increase," he said, "is not entirely due to our initiative, but it is forced upon us by the action of other Powers who have made great advances, especially in connection with the Navy, which we have found it to be our duty and necessity to equal. But the net result is extraordinary. At the present moment the estimates for the present year for naval and military expenditure in the United Kingdom—not including the extraordinary war expenses, but the normal estimates—involve an expenditure per head of the population of the United Kingdom of 29s. 3d. per annum. In Canada the same items involve an expenditure of only 2s. per head of the population, about one-fifteenth of that incurred by the United Kingdom. In New South Wales—I have not the figures for the Commonwealth as a whole, but I am giving those as illustrations—and I find that in New South Wales the expenditure is 3s. 5d.; in Victoria, 3s. 3d.; in New Zealand, 3s. 4d.; and in the Cape and Natal, I think it is between 2s. and 3s. Now, no one, I think, will pretend that that is a fair distribution of the burdens of Empire. No one will believe that the United Kingdom can, for all time, make this inordinate sacrifice. … I think, therefore, you will agree with me that it is not unreasonable for us to call your serious attention to a state of things which cannot be permanent. We hope that we are not likely to make upon you any demand that would seem to you to be excessive. We know perfectly well your difficulties, as you probably are acquainted with ours."
The speaker passed next to the question of commercial relations between the mother land and its colonies. "Two salient facts" he set with emphasis before his colonial audience. "The first is this. That if we chose—that is to say, if those whom we represent chose—the Empire might be self-sustaining. It is so wide; its products are so various; its climates so different, that there is absolutely nothing which is necessary to our existence, hardly anything which is desirable as a luxury, which can not be produced within the borders of the Empire itself. And the second salient fact is that the Empire at the present time, and especially the United Kingdom—which is the great market of the world—derives the greater part of its necessaries from foreign countries, and that it exports the largest part of its available produce —surplus produce—also to foreign countries. This trade might be the trade, the inter-imperial trade, of the Empire. It is at the present time, as I say, a trade largely between the Empire and foreign countries. Now, I confess, that to my mind that is not a satisfactory state of things, and I hope that you will agree with me that everything which can possibly tend to increase the interchange of products between the different parts of the Empire is deserving of our cordial encouragement. What we desire, what His Majesty’s Government has publicly stated to be the object for which they would most gladly strive, is a free interchange. If you are unable to accept that as a principle, then I ask you how far can you approach to it? If a free interchange between the different parts of the Empire could be secured it would then be a matter for separate consideration altogether what should be the attitude of the Empire as a whole or of its several parts towards foreign nations? …
"Three proposals have been made for the consideration of the present Conference, on the initiative of New Zealand. The first and the most important one is that a preferential tariff should be arranged in favour of British goods which are now taxable in the respective Colonies and in the United Kingdom. And although no proposal comes to us from Canada, I am, of course, aware that similar questions have been recently specially discussed very actively and very intelligently in the Dominion, and that a strong opinion prevails there that the time is ripe for something of this kind."
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Thereupon Mr. Chamberlain examined the results of the Canadian preferential tariff, showing that England derived very little commercial benefit from it, and continued: "I think the very valuable experience, somewhat disappointing and discouraging as I have already pointed out, but the very valuable experience which we have derived from the history of the Canadian tariff, shows that while we may most readily and most gratefully accept from you any preference which you may be willing voluntarily to accord to us, we cannot bargain with you for it; we cannot pay for it unless you go much further and enable us to enter your home market on terms of greater equality."
On the subject of imperial defence, the result of the Conference was an agreement from Australia and New Zealand to increase their contribution towards an improved Australasian squadron and the establishment of a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve to £200,000 a year for the former and £40,000 for the latter; an agreement from Cape Colony and Natal to contribute £50,000 and £35,000 per annum respectively toward the general maintenance of the Navy, and a pledge from Newfoundland of £3000 per annum toward a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve. From Canada no agreement was reported. In a "Memorandum by the First Lord of the Admiralty" of interviews held with the several Premiers it is said: "Sir Wilfrid Laurier informed me that His Majesty’s Government of the Dominion of Canada are contemplating the establishment of a local Naval force in the waters of Canada, but that they were not able to make any offer of assistance analogous to those enumerated above."
Concerning preferential trade, the following resolutions were adopted:
"1. That this Conference recognises that the principle of preferential trade between the United Kingdom and His Majesty’s Dominions beyond the seas would stimulate and facilitate mutual commercial intercourse, and would, by promoting the development of the resources and industries of the several parts, strengthen the Empire.
"2. That this Conference recognises that, in the present circumstances of the Colonies, it is not practicable to adopt a general system of Free Trade as between the Mother Country and the British Dominions beyond the seas.
"3. That with a view, however, to promoting the increase of trade within the Empire, it is desirable that those Colonies which have not already adopted such a policy should, as far as their circumstances permit, give substantial preferential treatment to the products and manufactures of the United Kingdom.
"4. That the Prime Ministers of the Colonies respectfully urge on His Majesty’s Government the expediency of granting in the United Kingdom preferential treatment to the products and manufactures of the Colonies either by exemption from or reduction of duties now or hereafter imposed.
"5. That the Prime Ministers present at the Conference undertake to submit to their respective Governments at the earliest opportunity the principle of the resolution and to request them to take such measures as may be necessary to give effect to it."
The Prime Ministers of the Colonies also stated the extent to which they were prepared to recommend to their several Parliaments a preferential treatment of British goods: The Premier of Canada would propose to continue the existing preference of 33 1/3 per cent., and an additional preference on lists of selected articles— (a) by further reducing the duties in favor of the United Kingdom; (b) by raising the duties against foreign imports; (c) by imposing duties on certain foreign imports now on the free list.
In New Zealand the recommendation would be of a general preference by 10 per cent., or an equivalent in respect of lists of selected articles on the lines proposed by Canada. At the Cape and Natal a preference of 25 per cent. would be advised, or its equivalent given by increasing duties on foreign imports. The recommendation in Australia would be of a preferential treatment not yet defined.
A resolution was adopted favoring future Conferences at intervals not exceeding four years. Other resolutions recommended that a preference be given to products of the Empire in all Government contracts, Imperial or Colonial; that the privileges of coastwise trade within the Empire be refused to countries in which the corresponding trade is confined to ships of their own nationality; that a mutual protection of patents within the Empire be devised; that the principle of cheap postage between the different parts of the Empire on all newspapers and periodicals published therein be adopted; that the metric system of weights and measures be adopted throughout the Empire. These were the mainly important conclusions derived from the Conference, and it was difficult to regard them as quite satisfactory.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1903. Mr. Chamberlain’s declaration for preferential trade with the Colonies. Its political effects in Great Britain. His resignation from the Cabinet. Disclosures of the correspondence.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1903 (MAY-SEPTEMBER).
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907. Conference of Imperial and Colonial Ministers at London. Formulation of the Constitution of the Conference, to be known as the Imperial Conference. Discussion of preferential trade, imperial defence, and other subjects. Resolutions adopted.
According to the resolution adopted by the Colonial Conference of 1902, the next Conference should have been held in 1906, but by agreement of all parties it was deferred until the following year. In the interval, a protracted correspondence occurred between the Colonial Office and the Governments of the several States federated in the Commonwealth of Australia, each of which claimed representation in the Conference by its own Ministers, and protested against the sufficiency of the representation that would be given to it by the General Government of the Commonwealth. The "State Rights" doctrine received no encouragement, however, and only the Premier of the Commonwealth, Mr. Deakin, and one of the members of his Cabinet, took part in the Conference, which held its first meeting in London on the 15th of April and its final one on the 14th of May.
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At the first meeting there were present, as representatives of the Imperial Government, the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Earl of Elgin, in the Chair, and several other Members of the Cabinet and officials of the Administration. The Premiers of the self-governing colonies, excepting Sir Robert Bond, of Newfoundland, who arrived a few days later, were all in attendance,—namely, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, of Canada, the Honorable Alfred Deakin, of Australia, the Honorable Sir J. G. Ward, of New Zealand, Dr. L. S. Jameson, of Cape Colony, the Honorable F. R. Moor, of Natal, and General Louis Botha, of the Transvaal. The Conference was first addressed by the Prime Minister, and responses to his remarks were made by the several colonial premiers. It was then agreed that the constitution of the Conference and the question of military defence should be the subjects first considered. Before ending this preliminary sitting it was decided, as one ruling on the constitution of the Conference, that any Ministers accompanying their Prime Ministers, should be at liberty to attend its meetings.
At the second session of the Conference resolutions brought forward by the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, proposing to give the character of an Imperial Council to the Conference, and a resolution from the Government of Cape Colony on the subject of Imperial Defence, together with a draft resolution concerning the constitution of the Conference which the Chairman, Lord Elgin, submitted, were discussed, without action taken. The discussion was continued at the third and fourth meetings, and the resolution proposed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, being amended in some particulars, was adopted at the end, as follows:
"That it will be to the advantage of the Empire if a Conference to be called the Imperial Conference is held every four years at which questions of common interest may be discussed and considered as between His Majesty’s Government and his Governments of the self-governing Dominions beyond the seas. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will be _ex officio_ President, and the Prime Ministers of the self-governing Dominions _ex officio_ members of the Conference. The Secretary of State for the Colonies will be an _ex officio_ member of the Conference and will take the chair in the absence of the President. He will arrange for such Imperial Conferences after communication with the Prime Ministers of the respective Dominions.
"Such other Ministers as the respective Governments may appoint will also be members of the Conference—it being understood that, except by special permission of the Conference, each discussion will be conducted by not more than two representatives from each Government, and that each Government will have only one vote.
"That it is desirable to establish a system by which the several Governments represented shall be kept informed during the periods between the Conferences in regard to matters which have been or may be subjects for discussion, by means of a permanent secretarial staff charged under the direction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies with the duty of obtaining information for the use of the Conference, of attending to its resolutions, and of conducting correspondence on matters relating to its affairs.
"That upon matters of importance requiring consultation between two or more Governments which cannot conveniently be postponed until the next Conference, or involving subjects of a minor character or such as call for detailed consideration, subsidiary conferences should be held between representatives of the Governments concerned specially chosen for the purpose."
On the subject of Imperial Defence, which was then taken up, and in the discussion of which the Secretary of State for War took part, the following resolutions were approved:
"That the Colonies be authorized to refer to the Committee of Imperial Defence through the Secretary of State for advice any local questions in regard to which expert assistance is deemed desirable.
"That whenever so desired, a representative of the colony which may wish for advice should be summoned to attend as a member of the Committee during the discussion of the questions raised.
"That this Conference welcomes and cordially approves the exposition of general principles embodied in the statement of the Secretary of State for War, and, without wishing to commit any of the Governments represented, recognizes and affirms the need of developing for the service of the Empire a General Staff, selected from the forces of the Empire as a whole, which shall study military science in all its branches, shall collect and disseminate to the various Governments military information and intelligence, shall undertake the preparation of schemes of defence on a common principle, and without in the least interfering in questions connected with command and administration, shall at the request of the respective Governments advise as to the training, education, and war organization of the military forces of the Crown in every part of the Empire."
At subsequent meetings the following resolutions were adopted or accepted:
On the subject of Emigration: "That it is desirable to encourage British emigrants to proceed to British colonies rather than foreign countries. That the Imperial Government be requested to cooperate with any colonies desiring immigrants in assisting suitable persons to emigrate."
On the subject of Judicial Appeals: The Conference "agreed to the following finding: The resolution of the Commonwealth of Australia, ‘That it is desirable to establish an Imperial Court of Appeal,’ was submitted and fully discussed.
"The resolution submitted by the Government of Cape Colony was accepted, amended as follows:
‘This Conference, recognizing the importance to all parts of the Empire of the appellate jurisdiction of His Majesty the King in Council, desires to place upon record its opinion—
"‘(1) That in the interests of His Majesty’s subjects beyond the seas it is expedient that the practice and procedure of the Right Honourable the Lords of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council be definitely laid down in the form of a code of rules and regulations.
"‘(2) That in the codification of the rules regard should be had to the necessity for the removal of anachronisms and anomalies, the possibility of the curtailment of expense, and the desirability of the establishment of courses of procedure which would minimize delays.
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"‘(3) That, with a view to the extension of uniform rights of appeal to all colonial subjects of His Majesty, the various Orders in Council, instructions to Governors, charters of justice, ordinances and proclamations upon the subject of the appellate jurisdiction of the Sovereign should be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining the desirability of equalizing the conditions which gave right of appeal to His Majesty.
"‘(4) That much uncertainty, expense, and delay would be avoided if some portion of His Majesty’s prerogative to grant special leave to appeal in cases where there exists no right of appeal were exercised under definite rules and restrictions.’
"The following resolutions, presented to the Conference by General Botha and supported by the representatives of Cape Colony and Natal, were accepted:
"‘(1) That when a Court of Appeal has been established for any group of colonies geographically connected, whether federated or not, to which appeals lie from the decisions of the Supreme Courts of such colonies, it shall be competent for the Legislature of each such colony to abolish any existing right of appeal from its Supreme Court to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
"‘(2) That the decisions of such Court of Appeal shall be final, but leave to appeal from such decisions may be granted by the said Court in certain cases prescribed by the statute under which it is established.
"‘(3) That the right of any person to apply to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for leave to appeal to it from the decision of such Appeal Court shall not be curtailed.’"
And now, at last, on the 30th of April, the Conference came to the discussion of the question which had been dominant in all minds from the first,—the question of preferential trade. Essentially it was a settled question already,—settled, that is, by the voters of the United Kingdom a year and a half before, when they took the administration of their Government away from the party which had approved the fiscal proposals of Mr. Chamberlain. The commercial negotiation of the colonies now was with a Ministry that stood pledged against the preferential tariff arrangements they desired. On their side they had committed their fortunes to the stimulant working of protective tariffs, against which the judgment and experience of England was still firm. The preferential tariffs which preferential trade involved were in the line of their policy, but directly antagonistic to hers. How impossible this made an arrangement of reciprocity on that line was intimated gently by the Prime Minister when he spoke to the Conference at its first sitting, but set forth later in plain words by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Asquith, and by the President of the Board of Trade, Mr. David Lloyd-George. "If the Colonies," said Mr. Asquith, "thought it their duty to foster industries by protective tariffs their action would not evoke remonstrance or even criticism from him. He noted that various self-governing Colonies gave preference to the Mother Country, but it was a fact that these preferential tariffs did not admit the manufactures of the Mother Country to compete on equal terms with the local product. Doubtless the Colonies held this to be vital to their interests, and in the same way His Majesty’s Government held that free trade was vital in the interests of the United Kingdom. Reference had been made to the fact that Cobden advocated free trade here as a part of a universal system of free trade, but the official author of the policy, Sir Robert Peel, defended it on the ground of its necessity to this country alone. His Majesty’s Government held that it was more necessary now than it was in his day. He pointed out the position now existing. We had a population of 44,000,000 bearing the whole weight of an enormous debt largely contracted in building up the Empire, and of the cost of Imperial diplomacy and Imperial defence. That population was dependent for food and raw materials on external sources of supply. This is the essential point for consideration. He asked how the supremacy of Great Britain was maintained. He thought it must be attributed to our special productive activity, to the profits which we obtain from keeping the biggest open market in the world, and to the enormous earnings of our shipping. All these were based in the long run on keeping our food and our raw materials on the same basis and as nearly as possible at the same price. Free trade was no shibboleth, but a principle maintained because it was a matter of vital national interest. He drew attention to the tariff reform campaign, and observed that, after the fullest examination and discussion, the people of England had declared in favour of free trade by a majority of unexampled size. As spokesman for the people, His Majesty’s Government could not accept any infringement of that policy, even by way of such an experiment as Dr. Jameson had suggested. It was necessary to state that fact fully and frankly at the outset. …
"For these reasons His Majesty’s Government, speaking for the people of this country, could not accept the principle of preferential trade by way of tariff preference. He thought, however, that the discussion had thrown light on other methods by which inter-imperial trade relations might be improved. Reference had been made to the improvement of means of communication, especially steamer services, to the increase in the number of commercial agents in the Colonies, to the desirability of removing or reducing the Suez Canal dues, and of establishing mail communication with the Australasian Colonies via Canada. All these were matters on which His Majesty’s Government would be fully ready to consider and cooperate with any practical proposals, and he said this the more earnestly as he felt that in the performance of his duty it had been necessary for him to enunciate a general policy which was not in accord with the views of the Colonial representatives."
Mr. Lloyd-George was equally plain spoken. "He had hoped," he said, "it might have been possible for those present, acknowledging the limitations imposed on them by the convictions they respectively held on fiscal issues, to see whether it might not be possible to find other means of attaining the object in view. The Colonies regard a tax on our foods as necessary both for raising revenue and also for the protection of their own industries. Mr. Deakin acknowledged that the late election in Australia was fought on the issue of protection and preference. It was open for the representatives of the Imperial Government to have ignored the mandate given to Mr. Deakin and to have endeavoured to commit their colleagues here to a policy of free trade within the Empire, to which those colleagues would not assent without being false to the trust reposed in them by their own people. Sir William Lyne the other day had urged the commercial union of the whole Empire, quoting the consolidation of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Federation of South Africa and Australia. In these cases all tolls and tariffs were removed.
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"Had a free-trade resolution been pressed by His Majesty’s Government and refused, it might have been said by the Press that the Colonies had refused to listen to the appeal of the Mother Country to be put on equal terms with her children, and later that the door had been slammed in the old mother’s face by her ungrateful progeny. His Majesty’s Government had not taken this course, recognizing the unfairness of ignoring local conditions and exigencies. They were not here to attempt to manoeuvre each other into false positions, but to discharge the practical business of the Empire. They were in perfect accord as to the objects they could strive to promote. His Majesty’s Government were in favour of any scheme for the development of inter-imperial trade which did not inflict sacrifices on any individual community so as to create a sense of grievance deep enough to introduce the elements of discontent and discord, and thus impair the true unity of the Empire. …
"He agreed that this federation of free commonwealths is worth making some sacrifice for. He differed only on ways and means. He was convinced that to tax the food of our people is to cast an undue share of sacrifice on the poorest part of the population, and that a tax on raw material would fetter us in the severe struggle with our foreign competitors. This, therefore, was a sacrifice which would weaken our power to make further sacrifices, and we ought not to be called upon to make it. In Mr. Deakin’s resolution the Government were asked to do what no protectionist country in the world would do—viz., to tax necessaries of either life or livelihood which we cannot produce ourselves, and of which the Colonies cannot supply us with a sufficiency for many years.
"He wished to acknowledge the considerable advantage conferred upon the British manufacturer by the preference recently given to him in colonial markets. The Canadian tariff had produced a satisfactory effect on our export trade, and apparently had also benefited Canada, for our purchases from Canada had also increased. The South African and New Zealand tariffs had not yet been put to, the test by much actual experience, but would no doubt have a similarly happy result. The same applied to Australia, and Great Britain felt grateful, not merely for the actual concessions, but for the spirit of comradeship and affection which inspired the policy. But it was said, ‘What are you prepared to do in return?’ His first answer was that Great Britain was the best customer the Colonies have got for their products. To illustrate this he gave the following figures: In 1905, the last year for which the information was available, the exports from the self-governing Colonies to all foreign countries only amounted to 40½ millions, while the exports to the United Kingdom amounted to 65¾ millions, exclusive of bullion and specie (21¾ millions)."
The outcome of the discussion was a simple reaffirmation of the five resolutions on the subject that were adopted at the Conference of 1902, and which will be found in the report of that Conference, preceding this. Before putting those resolutions to vote Lord Elgin stated that His Majesty’s Government could not assent to them so far as they implied that it is necessary or expedient to alter the fiscal system of the United Kingdom. They were agreed to, subject to that reservation. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who moved their readoption, said in doing so: "Free trade within the Empire had been suggested, just as there was free trade within the boundaries of the United States, Germany, and France. For the British Empire this was impossible for two reasons—the United Kingdom was not prepared to limit free trade to the Empire, and the Colonies were not prepared to accept free trade even within its boundaries. In Canada the policy of free trade within the Empire was impracticable, as it was necessary for her to have Customs duties as a main source of revenue. Canada had given the British preference deliberately, and had no cause to regret it; she had from time to time increased it, and in the last tariff had maintained it generally at the increased amount of 33 1/3 per cent. Canadian opinion had been almost unanimous in favour of preference, for Canada felt that she would as a result of the preference sell more to Great Britain and buy more from her. Mr. Asquith had not given Canada all the credit to which he thought she was entitled in making a comparison which showed no great advantage to British goods. He dwelt on the effect of the proximity of a nation like the United States, of their own stock, enormous in numbers, and most enterprising in trade; it was not a matter for surprise that their trade with that country had increased. But, so far as they could, they had done everything to keep trade within the Empire. They had built canals and railways from east to west of Canada, and they had taken care to assist the principle of mutual trade so far as legislation could do it. … He explained that in the recent revision of the Canadian tariff they had adopted a new principle in providing an intermediate tariff for negotiation. They were prepared to negotiate with nations like France or Italy on the basis of that tariff, but their lower preference tariff remained reserved for the British Empire."
Other resolutions adopted or accepted during the last two sessions of the Conference were as follows:
"That it is desirable that the attention of the Governments of the Colonies and the United Kingdom should be called to the present state of the navigation laws in the Empire, and in other countries, and to the advisability of refusing the privileges of coastwise trade, including trade between the Mother Country and its Colonies and possessions, and between one colony or possession and another, to countries in which the corresponding trade is confined to ships of their own nationality, and also to the laws affecting shipping, with a view of seeing whether any other steps should be taken to promote Imperial trade in British vessels." (This was voted by the representatives of the Colonies only, "His Majesty’s Government dissenting.")
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"That it is desirable that His Majesty’s Government, after full consultation with the Colonies, should endeavour to provide for such uniformity as may be practicable in the granting and protection of trade marks and patents."
"That it is desirable, so far as circumstances permit, to secure greater uniformity in the trade statistics of the Empire, and that the Note prepared on this subject by the Imperial Government be commended to the consideration of the various Governments represented at this Conference."
"That it is desirable, so far as circumstances permit, to secure greater uniformity in Company Laws of the Empire, and that the memorandum and analysis prepared on this subject by the Imperial Government be commended to the consideration of the various Governments represented at this Conference."
"That, in view of the social and political advantages and the material commercial advantages to accrue from a system of international penny postage, this Conference recommends to His Majesty’s Government the advisability, if and when a suitable opportunity occurs, of approaching the Governments of other States, members of the Universal Postal Union, in order to obtain further reductions of postage rates, with a view to a more general and if possible a universal adoption of the penny rate."
"That, with a view to attain uniformity so far as practicable, an inquiry should be held to consider further the question of naturalization, and in particular to consider how far, and under what conditions, naturalization in one part of His Majesty’s dominions should be effective in other parts of those dominions, a subsidiary conference to be held, if necessary, under the terms of the resolution adopted by this Conference on April 20 last."
"That in the opinion of this Conference the interests of the Empire demand that in so far as practicable its different portions should be connected by the best possible means of mail communication, travel, and transportation; That to this end it is advisable that Great Britain should be connected with Canada, and through Canada with Australia and New Zealand by the best service available within reasonable cost; That for the purpose of carrying the above project into effect such financial support as may be necessary should be contributed by Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in equitable proportions."
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909. The total of its prospective Military Strength when present Imperial plans are carried out.
In a speech made in March, 1909, Mr. Haldane, Minister for War, summed up the total of defensive military strength which the Empire might count on when recent plans for Imperial defence are carried out. He said: "With the divisions between the Cape and Malta and those which Lord Kitchener had in India, the Regular Army had for overseas work 16 divisions, equivalent to eight army corps, which was larger than any other nation had for overseas work, the reason being that we, unlike others, were responsible for 12 million square miles and 400 millions of human beings. The second line, what one might call the local line of home defence, consisted of the 14 divisions of the Territorial Army. Supposing Canada, the population of which was very rapidly increasing, were to build on the foundations laid at the Conference, by the new proposals which Canada had accepted she might easily add five or six Territorial divisions of her own. Those would be for her own defence, but they knew that in 1899, when a supreme emergency arose, she did not scruple to send forth her strength to help the Mother Country. In Australia there was a remarkable movement for the organization of the forces of the Crown, which might easily produce five Australian Territorial divisions. New Zealand might produce another division, and South Africa could rapidly produce four or five. … If they could add to the 14 second line divisions at home 16 for the second line Army of the Empire there would be 30 divisions altogether, and these, added to the 16 Regular first line divisions for use overseas, would give us an army for war conceivably and practicably of 46 divisions, equivalent to 23 army corps. The army of Germany had 23 army corps, and no other army in the world had an organization so great. He was speaking of possibilities."
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909 (June). The Imperial Press Conference in England.
Among the many endeavors of late years in England to draw the distant peoples of the great British Empire into closer relations with its sovereign Mother Country, and into the feeling of stronger ties of unity among themselves and with her, none seems to have been wiser or more surely of effect than that which brought about the Imperial Press Conference of June, 1909. It assembled sixty representatives of the Newspaper Press of every part of the Empire and of every shade of political opinion. It entertained them delightfully and impressively for three weeks. It made all England and its colonies and dependencies listen to their discussion of many questions, all bearing on the fundamental desire to make the most and best that can be made of the great political organism which extends its law to every continent and its influence to all the world. It brought before them its most distinguished and eloquent men to address them at meetings and feasts. It assembled at Spithead its stupendous central fleet of battleships, to pass it in review before them. It filled their minds with an undoubtedly new realization of what the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland—the sovereign, the seat, the center of greatness in their Empire—is to it; and they went back to Canada, to Australia, to South Africa, to New Zealand, even to India, to propagate that realization in other minds.
A Western Australian editor, speaking at one of the banquets of the Conference, referred to this result, saying: "The influence that had been brought to bear upon the overseas delegates could not fail to have very great effects upon their writings in the future. Coming as they did from isolated parts of the Empire, it was an agreeable surprise to them to find that they had all been thinking Imperially, and thinking in much the same way. While the spirit of nationalism was growing up very strongly, they felt that the spirit of nationalism was in no way out of harmony with the true spirit of Imperialism; and it had been a revelation to the delegates to find the unanimity that existed, not only among the English-speaking people of the Empire, but among those who came from different races. They had been helped to strengthen that feeling of Imperial unity in the certain hope that eventually the highest ideals of the best form of Imperialism would be realized. That form of Imperialism was not associated with a policy of aggrandisement, but was associated with the policy that would tend to promote the peace of the world, and the prosperity and the betterment of humanity generally."
{58}
A writer in _The Times_, reviewing the Conference after it closed, quoted the above and added: "The speaker just quoted travelled for seven days across Australia before he reached the capital of the State where he joined his fellow-delegates from the Commonwealth. The Australian party, when once it had left Sydney, was three weeks on the ocean before it reached the Pacific coast of Canada. A Canadian delegate, speaking at a banquet in Glasgow, declared that when at home he was as remote from one of his Canadian colleagues as Egypt is from London, and as remote from another, in the opposite direction, as London is from Russia. It might have been supposed that distances like those just indicated would have had the effect of causing some estrangement between men so widely separated; but the contrary proved to be the case. The Australians, following the All-Red route, which was defined as the official route, were greeted on their arrival on Canadian soil with an enthusiasm which both surprised and touched them. Wherever they went they found themselves among friends, anxious and eager to exchange views and ideas on all sorts of subjects affecting the common interests of the two peoples. They were banqueted by many representative men, from the Governor-General downwards, and, having been welcomed with the utmost heartiness at Victoria on the Pacific coast, were given a not less hearty ‘God-speed’ from Quebec on the St. Lawrence.
"Among the indirect results of the Conference must be mentioned the knowledge gained from such experiences. When in Canada the Australians were able to see how far their own trade interests were identical with those of the people among whom they had come, how the Canadians are facing the same problems both of politics and material development, of commerce and agriculture. And when, the feastings over, they found themselves on board the steamer with their Canadian fellow-delegates, a community of interests was at once established, and lasting friendships were formed.
"Similarly, when the delegates had all assembled in England there arose a spirit of comradeship which subsisted without a jarring note from the beginning of the Conference to the end. Nor must it be forgotten that the men who formed part of this company of editors and writers of the overseas Press were not wholly of British race. From Canada came representatives of the French-Canadians, from South Africa some of Boer and Dutch extraction, from India one delegate at least of Indian blood. The welding together of all these men in a spirit of loyalty to the Empire in which they as well as we have a share has been one of the most significant features of the Conference."
The practical object for which the Press Conference strove most earnestly was a cheapening of telegraphic communication, by cable or wireless, between the distant parts of the Empire, to the end that there may be an ampler publication of news from each division of it in every other. It received strong assurances of coöperation from the Imperial Government in its efforts to accomplish this end. To a deputation which waited on him, the Premier, Mr. Asquith, said: "Your Conference, if I may venture to say so, has very wisely appointed a standing committee to deal with that matter. The Post Office and other Government departments concerned will be anxious to assist and to keep themselves in touch with this committee by information and intercommunication and in all other ways that may be practicable. I think it will be the solid and substantial result of your deliberations on this very great Imperial necessity that in regard to the development of electric communication between different parts of the Empire we shall now have on the side of the Press a body formally organized and constantly existing with which we can enter into necessary communication, and by mutual discussion and reference, having regard to the various considerations to which I have already adverted, we may accelerate the developments of what we all agree to be one of the first requisites of an Empire such as ours—a cheap, a certain, a constant, a convenient, and a universally accessible system of electric communication."
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909 (July-August). Imperial Defence Conference.
See (in this Volume) War, The Preparations for: Military and Naval.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909 (September). Congress of Empire Chambers of Commerce.
A Congress of Chambers of Commerce, representing all parts of the Empire, which was assembled at Sydney, New South Wales, on the 14th of September, 1909, gave much of its discussion to the proposition that the several parts of the Empire should afford preferential treatment to each other in their several markets, on a basis of reciprocity, and adopted resolutions to the effect that the Congress "urges upon the Governments of the Empire that they should treat this matter as of present practical importance, and that the organizations represented at this Congress pledge themselves to press their respective Governments to take such action at the next Imperial Conference as will give effect to the principle advocated in this resolution." This was carried on individual voting, by 81 votes to 31. On voting by chambers, the resolution was passed with 60 for, 8 against, and 11 neutral.
Among the other resolutions of the Congress were the following: "That this Congress urges upon his Majesty’s Government and upon the Governments of the Colonies the appointment of an Advisory Imperial Council to consider questions of Imperial interest, especially those tending to promote trade between the various parts of the Empire."
"That the settlement in adequate Volume of the Anglo-Saxon race in the British Dominions is deserving of the constant solicitude of the Home and Colonial Governments, who are hereby urged to consider what further or better steps than those at present existing should be taken to elaborate a general State-aided scheme at reduced rates to encourage emigration of suitable settlers under well-considered conditions."
"This Congress is of opinion that it is desirable to complete the Imperial route between the Motherland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand by State-owned electric communication across Canada to Great Britain and that the postal departments of the various Governments of the Empire should be requested to frame a combined scheme of substantial reductions in telegraphic rates."
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BRITISH GUIANA: A. D. 1904. Settlement of Brazilian boundary dispute.
See (in this Volume) Brazil: A. D. 1904.
BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA.
See SOUTH AFRICA
BROWNSVILLE AFFAIR, The.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906 (August).
BRYAN, William Jennings: Suggestion at the Peace Congress in New York.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
BRYAN, William Jennings: Nominated for President of the United States.
See UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908(April-November).
BROTHERHOODS OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND OF RAILWAY TRAINMEN.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES.
BRUSSELS: A. D. 1902-1907. Sugar Bounty Conference and Convention, 1902, and Additional Act, 1907.
See (in this Volume) SUGAR BOUNTY CONFERENCE.
BRYCE, James: Chief Secretary for Ireland.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
BUBONIC PLAGUE.
See (in this Volume) PUBLIC HEALTH.
BUCHANAN, William I.: Delegate to Second and Third International Conferences of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BUCHANAN, William I.: Diplomatic Service in Venezuela.
See VENEZUELA: A. D. 1907-1909.
BUCHANAN, William I.: Commissioner Plenipotentiary to the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
BUCHANAN, William I.: Death, October 16, 1909.
BUCHNER, Eduard.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
BUCKS STOVE COMPANY CASE.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
BUDGET OF 1909, The British.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (April-December).
BUFFALO: A. D. 1901. The Pan-American Exposition. Assassination of President McKinley. Vice-President Roosevelt becomes President of the United States.
In Volume VI. of this work, which went to press in the spring of 1901, an account was given of the plan and preparations made for the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, then just at the point of being opened, on the 1st of May. The following characterization of the Exposition by a visitor is sufficient to add what was then said of it:
"They have staged electricity at Buffalo this summer, and they call it the Pan-American Exposition. It took a rectangle of 350 acres for the stage, and over $10,000,000 for the settings. The result, baldly stated, is the most glorious night scene the world has ever had the fortune to witness. The staging of Niagara is the one unforgettable thing about the affair. The Pan-American is, however, much more than this. …
"It may be well to say that the original generic scheme for the Exposition, that of joining the three Americas in a unified attempt to show one another their trade resources, seems to be in results far less prominent than was hoped at first. For one reason or another,—I have heard European influences in South America given as a chief cause,—the Latin Americas did not cooperate as was expected. The great trade idea upon which the Pan-American was originally based gradually faded, and gave place to the idea of an electrical beatification—for which the spectator will perhaps be thankful. There are exhibits, to be sure, from most of the South American countries, but the United States occupies industrially foreground, background, and middle distance. The other countries fill in the odd corners. The ardent patriot will see no lack of proportion in this; and as there is a hint of Mexico and the Argentine, and very creditable exhibits by Chile and Honduras, we have enough of the sister continent to justify the name. Most of the southern republics are represented in one way or another. It is hard, however, to explain the insufficiency of Canada’s exhibit. It is upon much too small a scale to do credit to her great resources. It is worthy of note that when the other countries realized the importance and beauty of the Pan-American, they set about vigorously to retrieve themselves.
"So the staging of electricity was undertaken. There was Buffalo to start with, and Buffalo is backed in the great race of American cities by the power of Niagara and the commerce of the Lakes. It is delightfully accessible and pleasing. Here was the psychological place. It was also the psychological moment,—a period of general prosperity, a time when America had set about her great task of making commercial vassals of the Old World countries. The psychological idea came with electricity, and under this happy triad of influences conspiring for success the work was begun.
"The managers took a big rectangle of unused land to the north of a beautiful park, and welded with it the most attractive portion of that park for their groundwork. Then they charted an effect. They put millions into an attempt to please, and did more, for they have both pleased and startled,—an effect peculiarly delightful to Americans."
_E. R. White, Aspects of the Pan-American Exposition (Atlantic Monthly, July, 1901)._
The Pan-American Exposition may be said to have been paralyzed in the first week of its fifth month by the awful tragedy of the wanton murder of President McKinley, while it entertained him as its guest. Mr. McKinley, with Mrs. McKinley, had arrived in Buffalo on the 4th of September, for a long planned visit to the Exposition, and had accepted the hospitality of its President, Mr. John G. Milburn. On the afternoon of the 6th he held a public reception in the Temple of Music, on the Exposition grounds, and it was there that the brutal assassin found his opportunity for the deed. The following graphic narrative of the tragedy is from the pen of Mr. Walter Wellman in the American Review of Reviews:
"Usually a secret-service agent is stationed by the President’s side when he receives the public, but on this occasion President Milburn stood at the President’s left. Secretary Cortelyou was at his right, and a little to the rear. Opposite the President was Secret-Service Officer Ireland. {60} Eight or ten feet away was Officer Foster. When all was ready, the line of people was permitted to move, each one pausing to shake the hand of the President. He beamed upon them all in his courtly way. When one stranger timidly permitted himself to be pushed along without a greeting, the President called out, smilingly, ‘Hold on, there; give me your hand.’ Mr. McKinley would never permit any one to go past him without a handshake. He was particularly gracious to the children and to timid women. Here, as we have often seen him in Washington and elsewhere, he patted little girls or boys on the head or cheek and smiled at them in his sweet way. A woman and a little girl had just passed, and were looking back at the President, proud of the gracious manner in which he had greeted them. Next came a tall, powerful negro—Parker. After Parker, a slight, boyish figure, a face bearing marks of foreign descent, a smooth, youthful face, with nothing sinister to be detected in it. No one had suspected this innocent-looking boy of a murderous purpose. He had his right hand bound up in a handkerchief, and this had been noticed by both of the secret-service men as well as by others. But the appearance in a reception line of men with wounded and bandaged hands is not uncommon. In fact, one had already passed along the line. Many men carried handkerchiefs in their hands, for the day was warm.
"So this youth approached. He was met with a smile. The President held out his hand; but it was not grasped. Supporting his bandaged right hand with his left, the assassin fired two bullets at the President. The first passed through the stomach and lodged in the back. The second, it is believed, struck a button on the President’s waistcoat and glanced therefrom, making an abrasion upon the sternum. The interval between the two shots was so short as to be scarcely measurable. As the second shot rang out, Detective Foster sprang forward and intercepted the hand of the assassin, who was endeavoring to fire a third bullet into his victim. The President did not fall. He was at once supported by Mr. Milburn, by Detective Geary, and by Secretary Cortelyou. Before turning, he raised himself on tiptoe and cast upon the miserable wretch before him, who was at that moment in the clutches of a number of men, a look which none who saw it can ever forget. It appeared to say, ‘You miserable, why should you shoot me? What have I done to you?’ It was the indignation of a gentleman, of a great soul, when attacked by a ruffian. A few drops of blood spurted out and fell on the President’s waistcoat. At once the wounded man was led to a chair, into which he sank. His collar was removed and his shirt opened at the front. Those about him fanned him with their hats. Secretary Cortelyou bent over his chief, and Mr. McKinley whispered, ‘Cortelyou, be careful. Tell Mrs. McKinley gently.’
"A struggle ensued immediately between the assassin and those about him. Detective Foster not only intercepted the arm of the murderer, and prevented the firing of a third shot from the revolver concealed in the handkerchief, but he planted a blow square upon the assassin’s face. Even after he fell, Czolgosz endeavored to twist about and fire again at the President. Mr. Foster threw himself upon the wretch. Parker, the colored man, struck him almost at the same instant that Foster did. Indeed, a half-dozen men were trying to beat and strike the murderer, and they were so thick about him that they struck one another in their excitement. A private of the artillery corps at one moment had a bayonet-sword at the neck of Czolgosz, and would have driven it home had not Detective Ireland held his arm and begged him not to shed blood there before the President. Just then the President raised his eyes, saw what was going on, and with a slight motion of his right hand toward his assailant, exclaimed: ‘Let no one hurt him.’"
As soon as possible, the wounded President was removed to the Exposition Hospital, and surgeons were quickly in attendance. The medical director of the Exposition, Dr. Roswell Park, President of the American Society of Surgeons, chanced to be absent, at Niagara Falls, where he was performing an operation at the time. The necessary operation upon the President was performed by Dr. Matthew D. Mann, assisted by Dr. Herman Mynter, Dr. Eugene Wasdin, of the Marine Hospital service, and others. The one fatal bullet of the two that were fired was found to have passed through both walls of the stomach, and its further progress was not traced. Dr. Park arrived on the scene before the operation was finished and took part in the subsequent consultations.
From the hospital Mr. McKinley was removed to Mr. Milburn’s house, where Mrs. McKinley, being an invalid, had remained that day. There he received all possible care during the eight days in which the nation hoped against hope that he might be saved. Dr. Charles McBurney was called from New York to join the attending physicians and surgeons, and approved all that had been done. For a week there seemed good ground for believing that the sound constitution of the President would defeat the assassin’s attempt; but on Friday the 13th the signs underwent a rapid change, and at fifteen minutes past two o’clock of the morning of Saturday he breathed his last.
Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt, who was then at a camp in the Adirondacks, was summoned at once, and arrived in the city that afternoon. At the house of Mr. Ansley Wilcox (whose guest he became), in the presence of the members of the late President’s cabinet and of a few friends and newspaper correspondents, he took the oath of office as President, administered by Judge Hazel, of the United States District Court. Before taking the oath he said: "I wish to say that it shall be my aim to continue, absolutely unbroken, the policies of President McKinley for the peace, the prosperity, and the honor of our beloved country."
The assassin, who called himself Nieman at first, was identified as Leon Czolgosz, a Pole, having reputable parents at Cleveland, Ohio. He had come under anarchist influences and been taught to believe that all heads of government were enemies of the people and ought to be slain. There was no other motive discoverable for his crime. He was arraigned in the County Court, before Justice Emory, on the 17th of September, three days after his victim’s death, and, having no counsel, two former Justices of the Supreme Court of the State, Loran L. Lewis and Robert C. Titus, consented to be assigned for his defence. {61} On the 23d he was tried in the Supreme Court, Justice Truman C. White presiding, the only defence possible being that on the question of sanity, and his guilt was pronounced by the verdict of the jury. On the 26th he was sentenced to be executed, in the State Prison at Auburn, within the week beginning October 28.
See, also, (in this Volume) under UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901 (SEPTEMBER).
BU HAMARA, the Mahdi.
See (in this Volume) MOROCCO: A. D. 1903-1904, and 1909.
BULGARIA.
See (in this Volume) BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES.
BÜLOW, Bernhard, Count von: Chancellor of the German Empire: Action on the Morocco question.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
BÜLOW, Bernhard, Count von: On German Navy-building.
See WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
BÜLOW, Bernhard, Count von: Defeat in the Reichstag on attempted financial reform. His resignation.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS, INTERNATIONAL.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: NEW YORK CITY.
BURGER, SCHALK W.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BURLEY TOBACCO SOCIETY.
See (in this Volume) KENTUCKY: A. D. 1905-1909.
BURNS, John: President of the Local Government Board.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906, 1905-1909, and 1909.
BURNS, William J.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: SAN FRANCISCO.
BURTON, Joseph R.: United States Senator.
Convicted of having received $2500 from a fraudulent concern, which had been debarred from using the United States mails, in return for his efforts to have embargo removed; sentenced to a fine of $2500 and nine months imprisonment, May, 1909.
BUTLER, Charles Henry: Technical delegate to the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
BUTLER, Edward: Political "Boss" of St. Louis, as seen in the confessions of Charles F. Kelly.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
BUTLER, Nicholas Murray: President of Columbia University.
See (in this Volume) EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1909.
BUTLER, Nicholas Murray: Arrangement of professorial interchanges with German universities.
See EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL INTERCHANGES.
BUXTON, Sidney C.: Postmaster-General (British).
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
C.
CACERES, Ramon.
See (in this Volume) SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1904-1907.
CADETS, Russian.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
CAJAL, Ramon y. See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
CALABRIA: Destructive earthquake in 1905.
See (in this Volume) EARTHQUAKES.
CALAMITIES, Recent extraordinary.
See (in this Volume) EARTHQUAKES, FAMINES, FIRE, FLOODS, VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1900-1909. Growth. Industries. Products. Railway facilities, etc.
"Within the past decade numerous events have tended to direct the attention of the United States and of the world to the importance of the Pacific ocean and the lands bordering upon it, as the field of great activities in the near future. The Spanish-American war, and particularly the voyage of the battleship Oregon around South America hastened the movement for an inter-oceanic canal. The development of the Alaskan gold fields gave a great impetus to shipping and trade in staple supplies in Pacific coast cities. The war between Russia and Japan revealed the maritime enterprise and established the naval prestige of Japan.
"Since the earliest days of American occupation California has been steadily filling up with people. These later movements in Pacific coast history, together with the steady development of natural resources, have greatly accelerated the advance in population, especially in cities as the centers of industrial and commercial activity. The census of 1900 showed a total population of 1,485,053. At the beginning of 1909 the number is estimated by the State Board of Trade at 2,564,363. The growth of cities in the same period is shown by the following instances,—the first figure being the population by the census of 1900, the second the State Board of Trade estimate for 1909.
1900. 1909.
Alameda 16,464 25,000 Berkeley 13,214 40,000 Fresno 12,470 32,000 Los Angeles 102,479 305,000 Oakland 66,960 200,000 Sacramento 29,282 55,000 San Francisco 342,782 500,000 San Jose 21,500 45,000 Stockton 17,506 25,000
"Two features characterize the recent development of California agriculture,—the increased value of the products, and a greater variety of crops. Originally wheat was the staple crop, but now sugar beets, hops, beans, alfalfa, and garden seeds must be added to the common cereals to make the list of staples. In 1908 the wheat crop was valued at $18,894,961, and the barley at $26,841,394.
"Orchards and vineyards furnish one of the best records of advancing wealth. Shipments out of the state by rail and by sea are given by the State Board of Trade as follows:
1898. 1908.
Tons. Tons. Green Deciduous Fruits 69,732 161,224 Citrus Fruits 180,658 399,094 Dried Fruits 76,662 133,846 Raisins 47,796 29,601 Nuts 5,815 10,887 Canned Fruits 52,219 85,135
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"About ninety per cent of all the citrus fruits go from the southern part of the State (south of Tehachapi mountains) and substantially all the fresh deciduous fruits go from the northern and central portions, Sacramento being one of the largest shipping points. Nearly all the dried fruits, raisins, canned fruits, wine and brandy, go from the northern and central portions. Most of the walnuts are grown in the south, and most of the almonds in the northern and central parts of the state. Olives are grown in about equal quantities, north and south. General farming, including stock raising, is much more widely pursued north of Tehachapi than south, and the same is true of the mining industry. The principal forests of the state are in the Sierra region and in the Coast Range Mountains north of Sonoma county.
"Formerly wool was an important product of California. The industry reached its maximum about thirty years ago,—the wool clip of 1876 amounting to 56,550,973 pounds. Since that date the wool product steadily declined till 1906, when the total amount was 24,000,000 pounds. Since 1906 the decline has been swift, as shown by the total of 15,000,000 pounds for 1908.
"In the production of the precious metals the record of California is very steady in recent years,—the gold output for 1900 being valued at $15,863,355, and for 1907 at $16,727,928. On the other hand the oil industry shows a marvelous advance. The output of petroleum from California oil wells was 4,000,000 barrels in 1900, and 48,300,758 barrels in 1908. Since 1906 the oil product of California has amounted to over twenty-five per cent of the total production of the United States. California petroleum now exceeds in value the output of her gold mines.
"For a long time the high cost of fuel retarded the growth of manufactures in California. Recently, however, the production of fuel oil and the introduction of electrical power developed from the water power in the streams of the Sierras have given a great impetus to manufacturing industries. The use of electricity is certain to be greatly increased in the near future and for this reason the people of California are tremendously interested in the policy of the federal government in the preservation of the mountain streams and in the disposition of water-power sites. The value of the products of manufacturing enterprises in the state for 1908 is estimated at about $500,000,000, of which the sum of $175,000,000 is credited to San Francisco, $62,000,000 to Los Angeles, $52,000,000, to Oakland, with Sacramento, San Jose, Stockton and Fresno following in the order of naming.
"California is a state of magnificent dimensions and it is quite in keeping with the size of the state to find that in 1907, with but two per cent, of the total population of the United States she had three per cent. of the total railway mileage of the country. New construction was almost entirely suspended in 1908, but has been resumed in 1909. The most important new road is the Western Pacific which enters the state by the Beckwith Pass to the north of the line of the Central Pacific route, from Sacramento to Ogden, and with the advantage of crossing the Sierras at 2000 feet less elevation. It reaches the Sacramento Valley by the canyon of the Feather River and opens up a large area of rich country to railway communication. It will be completed through to San Francisco in 1910, and will be the fifth trans continental line terminating on San Francisco Bay.
"Another great work of railway construction in progress in 1909 is the rebuilding upon an improved grade of the Central Pacific road through the Sierras. The extreme elevation of the present road at the summit of the range (7000 feet) is to be diminished by a lengthy tunnel. Other work of construction soon to be brought to completion is the extension of the Northwestern Pacific, a coast road north from San Francisco Bay to Eureka on Humboldt Bay, and the extension of the Ocean Shore Railway south along the coast to Santa Cruz.
"The records of the State Railroad Commission show in 1909 a total mileage in the state of 6744.54 miles.
"The lines operated by the principal companies measure up as follows:
MILES. Southern Pacific System. 3,582 Santa Fé System. 978 Northwestern Pacific. 404 San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake. 341 Western Pacific. 237 Yosemite Valley Railroad. 79
"Suburban electric railways have reached a high stage of development and utility in Southern California, in the Santa Clara Valley, connecting numerous cities and towns in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay, and in the Sacramento Valley. The increase of electric power by the further utilization of the water power of the Sierra Nevada streams will certainly bring about in the near future a great extension of electrical transportation for freighting as well as in passenger traffic."
_Frederick H. Clark, Head of History Department, Lowell High School, San Francisco._
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1900-1909. Constitutional changes.
"Amendments to the state constitution originate with the legislature, and are placed before the voters of the state at the biennial state elections. Dissatisfaction with parts of the state constitution is manifested by an increasing number of proposed amendments. So long as property interests are not antagonized, the voters show a willingness to make changes by ratifying a large majority of the amendments proposed. Among the important subjects upon which amendments have been adopted within the past ten years are the following:
authorization of legislation for the control of primary elections; providing for the use of voting machines; the establishment of a system of state highways; increasing the salaries of judges and of state executive officers; changing the pay of members of the legislature from $8.00 per diem for a period not to exceed 60 days to the sum of $1000 for the regular session; authorizing the legislature to provide a state tax for the support of high schools; permitting exemption from taxation of various forms of property, such as buildings used exclusively for religious purposes and the endowments of the Leland Stanford Junior University, the California School of Mechanical Arts, and the Cogswell Polytechnical College, —also personal property at the will of the owner to the amount of $100; eight hours made a legal day’s work on all public work throughout the state; authorization for the depositing of public funds in banks.
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An important change in the state judiciary was made in 1904 by the creation of district courts of appeal for the relief of the congested condition of the business of the State Supreme Court. The state was divided into three judicial districts, in each of which was established a court of appeal consisting of three judges elected from within the district for a term of twelve years.
"A plan for the reorganization of the revenue system of the state was placed before the voters in 1908, but failed of adoption. The proposed amendment was the outcome of a movement that began in 1905 with the appointment of a special commission on taxation. This commission employed expert assistance and made a thorough study of the subject of public revenues. Its work was placed before the next meeting of the legislature from which came the proposed amendment. Its central object was to discover new sources of revenue for the state treasury, leaving the direct property tax for the maintenance of local government alone."
_Frederick H. Clark, Head of History Department, Lowell, High School, San Francisco._
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1904-1909. Anti-Japanese agitation.
See (in this Volume) RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1906. The earthquake of April 18. Destruction at San Francisco by fire following the shock. Cause of the occurrence.
See (in this Volume) SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1906.
CALIPHATE, The Mohammedan: The Turkish Sultan’s title disputed.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1905.
CAMPBELL, H. W.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION: AGRICULTURE.
CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, SIR HENRY: Prime Minister of the British Government.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, SIR HENRY: Address at Colonial Conference.
See BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, SIR HENRY: DEATH, April 22, 1908.
----------CANADA: Start--------
CANADA: A. D. 1896-1909. The interchange of people between Canada and the United States. The "American Invasion." Rapid settlement of the Canadian Northwest. Immigration in the last decade.
"Nature is healing the schism of the race by her own slow but efficacious methods. Hundreds of families of the United Empire stock have gone back to the United States, in some instances to the very place of their origin. Upwards of a million native Canadians are now living in the States, the great majority as naturalised Americans; whilst American farmers, attracted by cheap land and good laws, are entering the Canadian North-West at the rate of 50,000 a year. The exodus, as migration across the line is called, is a heavy drain on Canada; like an ancient conqueror, it sweeps away the flower of both sexes, leaving the unfittest to survive. During the last 30 years we have spent $10,000,000 on immigration work in Europe, yet our population has not held its natural increase, has not, that is, grown as fast as the population of an old and over-crowded country like England. The Canadian lad thinks no more of transferring himself to Buffalo or Chicago than a Scotch youth of going up to London, perhaps not so much. On the other hand, American tourists, ‘drummers,’ lecturers, sportsmen and investors come and go in Canada precisely as if this were a State of the Union. When we produce a champion athlete, a clever journalist or eloquent divine, they annex him and advertise him next day as a Yankee. Marrying and giving in marriage is going on without the slightest regard for the doctrines of the Loyalists. There are said to be 200 college professors of Canadian birth in the United States. I am acquainted with some of them, and in their opinion, whatever it may be worth, Canada can best serve herself by becoming politically independent, and could best serve England by joining the American Union, where her presence and vote would offset the Anglophobia latent or active in other elements.
"The influence of the Canadian-Americans, to say nothing of that of the Americans proper, is visible on every side in English Canada; they are constantly visiting the old home, in many cases paying the interest of the mortgage on it. The French Canadians in New England have taught those in Quebec that the priest has no business to interfere unduly in elections, or to make war on Liberalism; that the Press ought to be free, and the State, not the Church, supreme within the sphere she defines as her own. Every day the French Canadian papers publish columns of correspondence from the French settlements in the factory towns across the line, but of British affairs editors and readers know little, and, apparently, care less. I mention this not to sneer at the French Canadian Press, but to show those Englishmen who urge us to cultivate the Imperialist spirit how difficult it would be for Mrs. Partington to keep out the Atlantic.
"In English Canada, our newspapers supply us with British news filtered through American channels; we read American books, are interested in American politics, frequent their watering-places and race tracks, imitate their tariffs, play baseball and poker, live under local institutions fashioned after theirs, think like them, speak like them, eat like them, dress like them; when we visit England, we find ourselves taken for them and treated well in consequence, better than if we confessed ourselves Colonials."
_E. Farrer, Canada and the new Imperialism (Contemporary Review, December, 1903)._
"Some ten years since there began to trickle into the vast wastes of the West the tiny rivulet of immigration which has now become a great stream. Many influences have gone toward widening this current of immigration, but the initial impulse which set it in motion came from the courage of one man. In 1896 Clifford Sifton, a young man, thirty-five years of age, who had already played a considerable _rôle_ in the politics of Manitoba, became Minister of the Interior in the Dominion Government. He was equipped with a genius for organization, an almost unequaled capacity for persistent hard work, and, above all, a faith in the West which knew neither wavering nor questioning. {64} He threw himself with immense energy into the task of advertising the Canadian West to the world and inducing immigration. His conception of the problem and its solution was Napoleonic; for he saw what others could not see and even scouted as absurd, that the people who could be induced most easily to lead the procession into the vacant prairies lived in the adjoining States of the American Union. A new generation had grown up in these States on the farms secured as free grants by their fathers in the ’70's, and he saw that when they looked for lands for themselves there would be none available at all comparable with those of Western Canada. Therefore, he argued, to acquaint them with the opportunities and possibilities of the new land to the north would be to insure such a migration as he desired, and if the stream once began flowing it would widen by its own velocity. This was the great idea which, given effect to by an organization called into being by first-class executive talent, operating with limitless resources, broke forever the great silence of the prairies and made them the Mecca of the world’s landless folk.
"There had been for years Canadian immigration agencies at various places in the United States, but they had been administered in a spirit of perfunctory hopelessness. These offices were reorganized; new ones opened; tens of thousands of dollars were expended in advertising and in the distribution of printed literature; enterprising drummers were sent abroad throughout the Western States to preach up the opportunities of Western Canada; representative farmers were induced to take trips through the Canadian West, all expenses paid by the government,—in fact, everything that trained business talent could suggest was done.
"The result? In the first year of the new order of things 2412 Americans came to Canada, and thereafter the number mounted yearly. By 1899 the figures had reached 11,945; 1901, 17,987; 1902, 26,388; 1903, 49,473; 1904, 45,171; 1905, 43,652; 1906, 57,919. During the ten years ending June 30, 1906, no less than 272,609 persons left the United States to become residents of Western Canada. These people came from all parts of the United States. The government homestead records for 1906 show applications from persons coming from every State and Territory of the United States, including the District of Columbia and Alaska. North Dakota led in the applications, with Minnesota a close second; then came Iowa, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Illinois, tapering to two from Alabama and one from Georgia. …
"It has given Canada over a quarter of a million of settlers with the highest average of efficiency. They, almost without exception, have sufficient capital to make a good start, a most important consideration in a new country where money is scarce and dear. Akin to the Canadians in race, language, political and social customs, they become a part of the community just as naturally as one stream flows into another at the same level. These settlers have also brought with them fifty years’ experience in prairie farming, and by their example have enormously affected agricultural methods. …
"More important, however, was the advertisement which the ‘American invasion’ gave Western Canada. It was precisely what the country needed—indeed there could have been no substitute for it in effectiveness. The Eastern Canadian was rather out of conceit with his own West; and if a migratory instinct drove him onward he went to the United States. In Great Britain Western Canada could get no hearing at all,—her emigrants went to Australia, the United States, New Zealand, or even to alien lands in preference to Canada. It is doubtful whether any possible exertions by the Government could have turned the attention of these people to Canada had not the influx of Americans to the prairies, loudly announced by all controllable agencies of publicity, challenged their attention and pricked their national pride. Once the fact was driven into their consciousness they began to hold that if Western Canada was good enough for ‘Yankees’ it was good enough for them. British newspapers in particular showed a belated but very real interest.
"The result has been a heavily increasing immigration from the British Isles, until it now exceeds by many thousands every year the arrivals from the United States. For the ten-year period specified above there were 311,747 immigrants from Great Britain, compared with 272,609 from the United States; with 248,250 from ‘other countries,’ chiefly continental Europe. The Scandinavian, Teutonic, and Slavic peoples are all strongly represented in Western Canada. The most numerous non-British people are the Ruthenians, or little Russians. In addition there is a large yearly influx of Canadian settlers from the older provinces, of whom there is no record excepting in the homestead applications. These figures showed that out of 41,869 applications for homesteads last year 27 per cent. were Canadians, 29 per cent. Americans, 20 per cent. from the British Isles, while the remaining 24 per cent. comprised persons of eighteen different nationalities. These statistics show that Western Canada is overwhelmingly English-speaking."
_John W. Dafoe, Western Canada: Its Resources and Possibilities (American Review of Reviews, June, 1907)._
Writing from Toronto, June 24, 1909, the regular Correspondent of the London _Times_ took the subject of Canadian immigration, especially that from the United States, for extended treatment. Part of his remarks were as follows:
"So long as the American States had free, fertile lands, it was natural that population should flow into the Republic. America, in the mind of Europe, was the land of promise and the home of freedom, and the United States was America. Canada was but a fringe of inhospitable British territory, where the spring came late and summer was brief, and winter was long and stern. The first great impulse to settlement came with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but an even more material factor in Canadian development was the comparative exhaustion of the free land of the Western States and the increasing reputation of the Canadian West as a wheat-growing country. If the 20th century belongs to Canada, as Sir Wilfrid Laurier has said, it is primarily because the American Republic has become a far less formidable competitor for British and European immigration, and because thousands of American farmers have discovered that they can sell their improved farms at good prices and secure lands of equal value in Canada for themselves and their sons with a very small investment of capital.
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"The total immigration since 1901 is estimated at 1,200,000. In that year it was 49,149. It rose in 1902 to 67,379. Thence there was a steady increase until 1907, when the figures were 262,469. In 1908 the total immigration was between 140, 000 and 142,000, and for this year the estimate is 200,000. British immigrants began to come in considerable Volume in 1901, when there were 17,269 arrivals. The best year was 1907, when the number reported was 120,182, as compared with 83,975 from the Continent of Europe and 58,312 from the United States. The decline in 1908 was chiefly in British and European immigration. Between 50,000 and 55,000 came from across the border, which was a greater number than came from either Britain or Europe. This year it is estimated that 70,000 Americans will come into the country. They will take up between 20,000 and 25,000 homesteads, and as it is considered that they bring property to the average value of $1,000 each this would give a total new capital of $70,000,000. In 1907, the year in which we had our greatest Volume of immigration, there were 178,500 British and Americans as compared with 84,000 from the Continent of Europe. For the last year there were 100,000 British and Americans and not a third as many from Europe.
"It is apparent that, even with the best business management the Empire can apply to the direction of its population, the American immigration to Canada will continue to exceed that from Great Britain. One of the most careful and soberminded of our public men with whom I talked a few days ago, a man who knows the West and for years has had intimate official knowledge of the movements of population on both sides of the border, believes that in the next ten or twelve years five millions of Americans will come into Canada. Upon this I pronounce no opinion, save to agree that the overflow from the United States is bound to increase in Volume. Naturally there are those amongst us who regard ‘the American invasion’ with uneasiness, and fear the ultimate effect upon our institutions and upon the relation of Canada to the Empire. In this connexion I can only say that for some years I have been at pains to consult men from all parts of the West who should know the mind of these American settlers and their general disposition towards the social and political institutions of the country, and as yet I have not found a single Western Canadian to express apprehension. They all agree that, while the Americans have a natural affection for ‘Old Glory’ and as yet may confuse the Fourth with the First of July, they pay ready allegiance to the flag under which they have come to live, and very generally agree that the impartial and inflexible administration of justice in Canada is in itself sufficient reason for the permanence of the British allegiance and an honest loyalty to Canadian institutions. What may be hidden in the womb of the future, when many of these Americans sit in the Legislatures and in the Federal Parliament, and become powerful in moulding public policy, we cannot know, but at least it is seldom that the seeds of revolution thrive amongst a prosperous agricultural population.
"But it is to one particular phase of the movement of population that I desire chiefly to call attention. The migration to the West has had a marked effect on the older Canadian provinces. Many farms in the long settled districts have been almost deserted. The old remain; the young have gone. The only compensation is that the sons prosper in the West."
According to a despatch from Ottawa in September, 1909, "the annual Immigration Report states that the total arrivals in Canada during the last fiscal year were 146,908. For the first time in Canadian history immigrants from the United States exceeded those from the United Kingdom; the figures are respectively 59,832 and 52,901. The total immigration during the 13 years which the present Government has been in office was 1,366,658. American immigrants in that period have brought to Canada £12,000,000 in cash and effects. Immigration from France and Belgium declined last year and Japanese immigration fell off by 7,106. Only six Hindus entered Canada, compared with 2,623 in the previous year; 3,803 immigrants were rejected at ocean ports, of whom 1,748 were deported. The total deportations since 1902, when the system was first inaugurated, were 3,149, of whom 2,607 were English."
Two months later it was reported from Ottawa that during the first six months of 1909 "homestead entries were made by 27,296 bona fide settlers, representing free grants of Dominion lands of 4,367,360 acres. This is an increase of 939 entries and of 150,200 acres as compared with the corresponding period of 1908. In September the total number of homestead entries was 2,902; of these 926 were American, 325 English, 109 Scotch, 54 Irish, 336 Canadians from Ontario, and 83 Canadians from Quebec."
Previously, in August, it had been stated that "German capitalists have interested Toronto men in a big plan to colonize the lands of Alberta and Saskatchewan on a time-payment system. The scheme includes advances to settlers for the purchase of implements and for help in house building. The expectation is that 20,000 Germans will avail themselves of the scheme."
CANADA: A. D. 1898-1903. German retaliation for the tariff discrimination in favor of British goods.
See (in this Volume) TARIFFS.
CANADA: A. D. 1901-1902. The Census of the Dominion. New apportionment of parliamentary representation.
The census of the Dominion, taken in 1901, showed a total population of 5,370,000, of which Ontario contained 2,182,947; Quebec, 1,648,898; Nova Scotia, 459,574; New Brunswick, 331,120; Manitoba, 254,947; British Columbia, 177,272; Prince Edward Island, 103,259; The Northwest Territories, Yukon included, 211,649.
The new distribution of parliamentary representation, determined this year, gave the House of Commons a total membership of 214, apportioned as follows; Quebec 65 (as guaranteed by the Confederation Act); Ontario 86; Nova Scotia 18; New Brunswick 13; Manitoba 10; British Columbia 7; Northwest Territories 10; Prince Edward Island 4; the Yukon 1. The basis was one representative for each 2500 people. Ontario lost 6 seats, Nova Scotia 2, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island 1 each; all the other provinces gained, British Columbia to the extent of 7 seats, the Northwest Territories 4, and Manitoba 3.
CANADA: A. D. 1902. Colonial Conference at London.
See (in this Volume) BRITISH EMPIRE.
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CANADA: A. D. 1903. Discovery of the cobalt silver mines in Ontario.
Ore bodies carrying values in silver, cobalt, nickel, and arsenic were discovered in 1903, during the building of the Temiskaming and North Ontario Railway near the town of Haileybury, at a distance of about 103 miles from North Bay. The railway line ran over the most important vein that has been found, and signs of the latter were noticed in the spring of the year named. Prospecting was begun in the fall with quick results of important discovery, and the rapid attraction of a large mining population to what has become famous as the Cobalt District. The production of silver in the district increased from $111,887 in 1904 to $9,500,000 in 1908. The ores are said to be unique among those of North America.
_16th Annual Report of Ontario Bureau of Mines._
CANADA: A. D. 1903 (May). Adoption of "Empire Day" in Great Britain.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1903 (May).
CANADA: A. D. 1903 (October). Settlement of the Alaskan boundary question.
See (in this Volume) ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1904. Measures to establish sovereignty over land and sea of Hudson Bay region.
"The agreement by Britain and America to arbitrate at The Hague the Newfoundland Fishery Question will probably pave the way for a similar solution of another entanglement, as threatening and complicated as that respecting the Alaskan Boundary, apparently now imminent between Canada and the United States over the sovereignty of Hudson Bay. This has a special relation to the Newfoundland problem, being also based on the treaty of 1818. The Canadian Government in August, 1903, despatched the Newfoundland sealing steamer ‘Neptune’ (one of the type of wood-built ships suited for the work) to the region, with an official expedition whose three-fold object was: (1) to reassert British sovereignty over all the land and seas there; (2) to expel or subject to Canadian authority the United States whalers who fish there, illegally, it is held; and (3) to secure further data tending to determine the navigability of the waters for an ocean grain route and justify subsidising or discouraging the construction of railways from the north-west to the shores of Hudson Bay.
"In the summer of 1904, in anticipation of the ‘Neptune’s’ return, the Canadian Government purchased from Germany the Antarctic exploring steamer ‘Gauss,’ re-named her the ‘Arctic,’ and sent her to Hudson Bay as an official cruiser, she conveying also Major Moodie, of the North-West Mounted Police, who was commissioned as ‘Governor of Hudson Bay ’ and was accompanied by a body of that famous force, to assist him in the administration of this extensive province, they to build posts there and establish themselves at the most important points. … The undisguised purpose of the Dominion is to take all possible steps to prevent the United States from securing any advantage, territorial or diplomatic, which would enable her to put forward pretensions such as have been advanced by her with respect to the Alaskan Boundary.
"The similarity of this question to that of the Alaskan Boundary is quite striking. Geographically, the Hudson Bay region is to the Northeastern portion of the continent what Alaska is to the North-western. In the variety and value of natural resources both have much in common. The development of the Hudson Bay region, while not as advanced as that of Alaska, seems destined to be much accelerated in the near future in every department of industrial endeavour. The United States whalers, voyaging from New Bedford into Hudson Bay, and from San Francisco into Alaskan seas, penetrate to the very confines of the Arctic zone itself. To proceed against them now, after their having enjoyed for over seventy years an unrestricted access to Hudson Bay, whether entitled thereto or not, is a step which may provoke a repetition of the difficulties which were recently experienced over the Alaskan Boundary. …
"[Canada] contends that from the entrance to Hudson Strait, which she says is in a line drawn from Cape Chidley, the northern projection of Labrador, to Resolution Island, the southern extremity of Baffin Land, all the waters and lands to the west, including the numerous islands of Arctic America, are her exclusive possession. She bases this contention on the following grounds:—
"1. Discovery (the waters, coastline and hinterland having been discovered and charted by British explorers).
"2. Occupation (the region having been occupied only by the Hudson Bay Company).
"3. Treaty cession (the British rights to the region having been admitted by the French in 1713).
"4. Acquiescence (the United States having acknowledged the Hudson Bay Company’s rights in 1818).
"5. Purchase (Canada having bought out the Company in 1870).
"But Americans are indisposed to acquiesce in any such conclusion as regards the waters of the Bay. They contend that the British had originally no rights beyond the three-mile limit, that the French in 1713 could cede them no more, and that the American concurrence in 1818 could apply only to the same territorial waters. In other words, they question the right of the British Monarch to grant such a Charter as he did, and it may be observed here that the same point has frequently been made in England also in the past by opponents of the Company and by legal critics."
_P. T. McGrath, The Hudson Bay Dispute (Fortnightly Review, January, 1908)._
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1905. Attitude of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association toward Great Britain and the United States on the Tariff question.
"The attitude of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association toward both the United States and Britain has been very frequently misrepresented by opponents of tariff reform in Canada and England. … The views of the Association were clearly set forth in the recommendations made by the Tariff Committee at the annual meeting in September, 1903, and adopted by the Association after full discussion. The attendance was very large, and the meeting was practically unanimous, only one member dissenting. The resolutions were as follows:
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"'(1) That we reaffirm the tariff resolution passed at the last annual meeting in Halifax, as follows: Resolved, That in the opinion of this Association, the changed conditions which now obtain in Canada demand the immediate and thorough revision of the tariff, upon lines which will more effectually transfer to the workshops of our Dominion the manufacture of many of the goods which we now import from other countries; that, in any such revision, the interests of all sections of the community, whether of agriculture, mining, fishing, or manufacturing, should be fully considered, with a view, not only to the preservation, but to the further development, of all these great natural industries; that, while such a tariff should primarily be framed for Canadian interests, it should nevertheless give a substantial preference to the Mother Country, and also to any other part of the British Empire with which reciprocal preferential trade can be arranged, recognizing always that under any conditions the minimum tariff must afford adequate protection to all Canadian producers.
(2) That, except in very special cases, we are opposed to the granting of bounties in Canada as a substitute for a policy of reasonable and permanent protection.
(3) That we are strongly opposed to any reciprocity treaty with the United States affecting the manufacturing industries of Canada.
(4) We recommend that the Dominion Government establish in Canada a permanent tariff commission of experts, who shall have constant supervision of tariff policy and changes, and shall follow closely the workings of the Canadian tariff with a view to making such recommendations to the Government as will best conserve and advance the interests of the Dominion.’
"These resolutions were reaffirmed at the annual conventions in 1904 and 1905, meeting with no opposition."
_Watson Griffin, Canadian Manufacturers' Tariff Campaign (North American Review, August, 1906)._
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1909. New transcontinental railway project. The Grand Trunk Pacific.
"The project for a new transcontinental railway made the year 1903 industrially significant. The scheme when finally presented to Parliament by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, on July 31st, provided for the building of a new line from Moncton, New Brunswick, through Quebec to Winnipeg and the Pacific Coast at a terminus then not fixed, but now known to be Prince Rupert. The road is to be divided into two parts; the Eastern from Moncton to Winnipeg, which is to be built by the Government, and the Western from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, to be built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company. Provision was made for a lease of the Eastern section by the company and its purchase after fifty years. This company is practically the same as the Grand Trunk Railway Company. Sir Wilfrid estimated the cost at $13,000,000. There were provisions for Government assistance in the guaranteeing of the bonds of the new company."
_F. B. Tracy, Tercentenary History of Canada,