Part 1

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IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE

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IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE

(1876--1887)

COMPILED BY R. H. GRETTON FORMERLY DEMY OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD AUTHOR OF "A MODERN HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE"

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INTRODUCTION

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I acknowledge, with thanks to the authors concerned, and to Messrs. Macmillan and Co., their kind permission to reprint in this volume the following passages: that on p. 102, from the _Life of Lord Randolph Churchill_, by the Right Hon. Winston Churchill; three extracts, on pp. 59, 62, 83, from _Mahdiism and the Egyptian Soudan_, by Sir Francis Wingate; the passages from Lord Morley's _Life of Gladstone_, on pp. 97, 98, 101, 110; and the passages from Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_, on pp. 68, 69, 70, 87. I acknowledge also with thanks the permission of the proprietors of _The Times_ to reprint the various extracts from that journal; and the permission of the proprietors of _The Saturday Review_ to reprint the extract on p. 35. In dealing with a period so recent, I have inevitably been very dependent upon the courtesy of the owners of copyright, and I wish to express my gratitude for the readiness with which that courtesy has been extended in these important cases.

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R. H. G.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE INTRODUCTION v

DATE 1876. PURCHASE OF THE SUEZ CANAL SHARES 1 1876. ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND AFGHANISTAN 3 1876. THE QUEEN AS EMPRESS OF INDIA 5 1876. BULGARIAN ATROCITIES 8 I. THUNDER FROM MR. GLADSTONE 8 II. COLD WATER FROM DISRAELI 11 1877. SIR THEOPHILUS SHEPSTONE'S COMMISSION 15 1877. RUSSIA DECLARES WAR ON TURKEY 16 1877. IRISH OBSTRUCTION IN ITS EARLY DAYS 17 1877. PLEVNA AFTER THE SIEGE 18 1878. STRAINED RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA 21 1878. PEACE WITH HONOUR 24 1878. THE SECRET AGREEMENTS IN BEACONSFIELD'S POCKETS 25 1878. GLADSTONE INDIGNANT AGAIN 27 1878. RUSSIAN INTRIGUE AT CABUL 28 1878. SHERE ALI 30 1879. DEATH OF SHERE ALI 31 1879. THE GANDAMAK TREATY 31 1879. THE CABUL MASSACRE 32 1879. THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN 35 1880. BEACONSFIELD KEEPS COOL 37 1880. THE MAIWAND DISASTER 37 1880. THE BRADLAUGH CASE 40 1880. SOCIAL AMELIORATIONS 40 EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY 40 FUNDED MUNICIPAL DEBT 41 ELECTRIC LIGHT, THE TELEPHONE, NEW HOTELS 42 1880. PARNELL AND THE LAND LEAGUE 43 1880. CAPTAIN BOYCOTT 44 1880. THE BOER RISING 45 PROCLAMATION 46 1881. BEFORE MAJUBA 46 1881. AFTER MAJUBA 47 1881. RITUAL CONTROVERSY 48 1881. A SHORT WAY WITH OBSTRUCTION 49 1881. THE DEATH OF BEACONSFIELD 50 1881. THE WITHDRAWAL FROM CANDAHAR 51 1881. THE SALVATION ARMY 54 1881. ARABI 54 1882. THE FIRST CLOSURE 56 1882. BIMETALLISM 56 1882. BRIGHT'S RESIGNATION 57 1883. THE ILBERT BILL 58 1883. FENIANS AGAIN 58 1883. THE MAHDI 59 1883. END OF CAREY THE INFORMER 61 1883. SLAUGHTER OF HICKS PASHA'S ARMY 62 1884. TRANSVAAL CONVENTION 65 1884. GORDON'S MISSION TO KHARTOUM 66 1884. DIFFICULTIES OF GORDON'S CHARACTER 69 1884. ZOBEIR PASHA 71 1884. SOME OF GORDON'S TELEGRAMS 73 1884. CROSS PURPOSES 75 1884. GORDON'S POSITION 78 1884. GORDON'S OWN MEDITATIONS 80 1884. THE FRANCHISE AND REDISTRIBUTION 82 1884. FEEDING POOR SCHOOL CHILDREN 83 1885. THE DEATH OF GORDON 83 1885. THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY 87 1885. THE VOTE OF CENSURE 87 1885. MORE FENIANISM 90 1885. NEW LABOUR MOVEMENTS 91 1885. THE UNEMPLOYED 92 1885. WORKING MEN MAGISTRATES 93 1885. TORY OLIVE-BRANCH TO IRELAND 93 1885. THE FIRST SUBMARINE 96 1885. THE UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMME 97 1885. THE IRISH VOTE 98 1885. THE NEW ELECTORATE 100 1886. THE OPENING OF THE RIFT 101 1886. "ULSTER WILL FIGHT" 102 1886. SALISBURY ON HOME RULE 104 1886. MR. GLADSTONE'S APPEAL 106 1886. LIBERAL UNIONISM 107 1886. THE UNEMPLOYED RIOTS 107 1886. BIMETALLISM AND LABOUR DISPUTES 109 1886. PASTEUR AND HYDROPHOBIA 110 1886. THE FINAL HOME RULE RUPTURE 110 1887. THE COMING OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION 112 1887. THE FIRST "GUILLOTINE" CLOSURE 113 1887. JUBILEE RETROSPECTS 114 1887. "REMEMBER MITCHELSTOWN" 118 1887. "BLOODY SUNDAY" 119 1887. FIRST REPORT ON THE RAND 120

IMPERIALISM AND MR. GLADSTONE

(1876--1887)

PURCHASE OF THE SUEZ CANAL SHARES (1876).

=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 227, col. 95 (Debate on the Address, February, 1876).

MR. DISRAELI: ... When we acceded to office two years ago an International Commission had only just ceased its labours at Constantinople upon the dues of the Suez Canal, and upon the means of ascertaining and maintaining a limit of them, and it had arrived at reasons entirely protested against by the proprietary. What was the state of affairs there? Lord Derby had to deal with them. The proprietary of the canal threatened, and not only threatened, but proceeded, to stop the canal. They refused pilots; they threatened to change the signals; they took steps which would have interrupted that mode of intercourse with India.... From that moment it became a matter of interest to those responsible for the government of this country to see what could be done to remedy those relations with the Suez Canal.... But it suddenly comes to our knowledge that the Khedive, on whose influence we mainly depended, is going to part with his shares. We received a telegram from Cairo informing us that the Khedive was anxious to raise a considerable sum of money upon his shares in the Suez Canal, and offered them to England. We considered the question immediately, and it appeared to us to be a complicated transaction--one to which there were several objections; and we sent back to say that we were favourably disposed to assist the Khedive, but that at the same time we were only prepared to purchase the shares outright. What was the answer? The answer was that the Khedive was resolved, if he possibly could, to keep his shares, and that he could only therefore avail himself of a loan. There matters seemed to end. Then suddenly there came news to the Government of this country that a French society--Société Générale--was prepared to offer the Khedive a large sum of money--very little inferior to the four millions--but on very onerous conditions. The Khedive communicated with us, and said that the conditions were so severe that he would sooner sell the shares outright, and--which I had forgotten to mention--that, in deference to his promise that England should always have the refusal of the shares if he decided to sell them, he offered them to the English Government. It was absolutely necessary to decide at that moment what course we should take. It was not a thing on which we could hesitate.... To pretend that Lord Derby has treated this business as a mere commercial speculation is idle. If he did not act in accordance with the principles of high policy, I should like to know what high policy is, and how a man can pursue it.

Apart from looking upon this as an investment, if the shares had been offered, and if there had been no arrangement of paying interest for nineteen years, so far as I am concerned, I should have been in favour of the purchase of the shares. I should have agreed with Lord Derby in thinking that England would never be satisfied if all the shares of the Suez Canal were possessed by a foreign company. Then it is said, if any obstacles had been put in your way by the French proprietors of the canal, you know very well that ultimately it must come to force, and you will then obtain at once the satisfaction of your desire. Well, if the government of the world was a mere alternation between abstract right and overwhelming force, I agree there is a good deal in that observation; but that is not the way in which the world is governed. The world is governed by conciliation, compromise, influence, varied interests, the recognition of the rights of others, coupled with the assertion of one's own; and, in addition, a general conviction, resulting from explanation and good understanding, that it is for the interests of all parties that matters should be conducted in a satisfactory and peaceful manner.... I cannot doubt that the moral influence of England possessing two-fifths of the shares in this great undertaking must have made itself felt, must have a considerable influence upon the conduct of those who manage the company.... England is a Mediterranean Power; a great Mediterranean Power. This is shown by the fact that in time of war always, and frequently in time of peace, she has the greatest force upon those waters. Furthermore, she has strongholds upon those waters which she will never relinquish. The policy of England, however, is not one of aggression. It is not provinces she wants. She will not interest herself in the redistribution of territory on the shores of the Mediterranean, as long as the redistribution does not imperil the freedom of the seas and the dominion which she legitimately exercises. And therefore I look upon this, that in the great chain of fortresses which we possess, almost from the Metropolis to India, that the Suez Canal is a means of securing the free intercourse of the waters, is a great addition to that security, and one we should prize.

ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND AFGHANISTAN (1876).

=Source.=--_Parliamentary Publications_, "Afghanistan," C 2, 190, of 1878, p. 156.

_Extract from Lord Salisbury's Despatch to the Viceroy of India, dated February 28, 1876._

The increasing weakness and uncertainty of British influence in Afghanistan constitutes a prospective peril to British interests; the deplorable interruption of it in Khelat inflicts upon them an immediate inconvenience by involving the cessation of all effective control over the turbulent and predatory habits of the trans-Indus tribes. In view of these considerations, Her Majesty's Government have ... instructed the Viceroy to find an early occasion for sending to Cabul a temporary mission, furnished with such instructions as may, perhaps, enable it to overcome the Ameer's apparent reluctance to the establishment of permanent British Agencies in Afghanistan, by convincing His Highness that the Government of India is ... willing to afford him material support in the defence of his territories from any actual and unprovoked external aggression, but that it cannot practically avert or provide for such a contingency without timely and unrestricted permission to place its own agents in those parts of his dominions whence they may best watch the course of events. It appears to Her Majesty's Government that the present moment is favourable for the execution of this last-mentioned instruction. The Queen's assumption of the Imperial title in relation to Her Majesty's Indian subjects, feudatories, and allies will now for the first time conspicuously transfer to her Indian dominion, in form as well as in fact, the supreme authority of the Indian Empire.... The maintenance in Afghanistan of a strong and friendly power has at all times been the object of British policy. The attainment of this object is now to be considered with due reference to the situation created by the recent and rapid advance of the Russian arms in Central Asia towards the Northern frontiers of British India. Her Majesty's Government cannot view with complete indifference the probable influence of that situation upon the uncertain character of an Oriental Chief whose ill-defined dominions are thus brought, within a steadily narrowing circle, between the conflicting pressures of two great military Empires, one of which expostulates and remains passive, whilst the other apologizes and continues to move forward. It is well known that not only the English newspapers, but also all works published in England upon Indian questions, are rapidly translated for the information of the Ameer, and carefully studied by His Highness. Sentiments of irritation and alarm at the advancing power of Russia in Central Asia find frequent expression through the English press, in language which, if taken by Shere Ali for a revelation of the mind of the English Government, must have long been accumulating in his mind impressions unfavourable to its confidence in British power.... Her Majesty's Government would not, therefore, view with indifference any attempt on the part of Russia to compete with British influence in Afghanistan, nor could the Ameer's reception of a British Agent (whatever be the official rank or function of that Agent) in any part of the dominions of His Highness afford for his subsequent reception of a Russian Agent any pretext to which the Government of Her Majesty would not be entitled to, except as incompatible with the assurances spontaneously offered to it by the Cabinet of St. Petersburg. You will bear in mind these facts when framing instructions for your mission to Cabul.... The conduct of Shere Ali has more than once been characterized by so significant a disregard of the wishes and interests of the Government of India that the irretrievable alienation of his confidence in the sincerity and power of that Government is a contingency which cannot be dismissed as impossible. Should such a fear be confirmed by the result of the proposed negotiation, no time must be lost in reconsidering, from a new point of view, the policy to be pursued in reference to Afghanistan.

THE QUEEN AS EMPRESS OF INDIA (1876).

=Source.=--_Hansard_, Third Series, vol. 227, col. 1,736 (Debate on Royal Titles Bill, March 9, 1876).

MR. GLADSTONE: ... In my opinion this is a matter of the greatest importance. We have had some declarations in this House with respect to India. The hon. member for West Cumberland (Mr. Percy Wyndham), on the night when the right hon. gentleman first made his proposal, said that an Imperial title would be the one most suitable, because it would signify that Her Majesty governed India without the restraints of law or constitution.

MR. PERCY WYNDHAM: I said that the Government of India was a despotic Government, not in the hands of one person, and not, as in this country, a constitutional Government in the hands of the Queen and the Houses of Lords and Commons. The Government of India is essentially a despotic Government as administered by us, although it includes more than one individual.