VICTORIA. 



747 



" We don't want to fight, but, by jingo, if we do, 



We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've 

 got the money, too." 



The fleet was ordered to the Dardanelles, but 

 recalled on account of the Liberal opposition and 

 the unwillingness of some members of the Cabinet 

 to be responsible for war. Before further war 

 measures were taken Turkey had yielded, agreed 

 to an armistice and the treaty of San Stefano, 

 which granted independence to Bulgaria and made 

 the other Christian provinces almost independent. 

 Preparations for war against Kussia now went on 

 in England, which would not consent to the treaty 

 or allow Kussia to dictate terms to Turkey. Lord 

 Derby, the Foreign Secretary in Lord Beacons- 

 field's Cabinet, resigned he had been for preserv- 

 ing peace and Lord Salisbury took his place. 

 War now seemed certain, but Prince Bismarck 

 came forward with a proposal for a congress in 

 Berlin, to discuss the treaty of San Stefano. Lord 

 Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury represented Eng- 

 land. The result was the Treaty of Berlin. Lord 

 Beaconsfield came home in triumph, bringing the 

 island of Cyprus, the price Turkey paid for Eng- 

 land's guarantee that she should be left in pos- 

 session of her territory in Asia. To the crowds 

 that gathered to hear him speak he proclaimed 

 that he had brought home " peace with honor," 

 a phrase that at once became current in England 

 and America. At this time the great Conservative 

 leader touched the highest point of his popularity 

 and Mr. Gladstone his lowest point of unpopular- 

 ity. Parliament was dissolved in 1880, however; 

 popular feeling had changed; the wars in Asia and 

 Africa were not going well ; the elections brought 

 the Liberals back to power with a great majority. 

 The Earl of Beaconsfield died April 19, 1881. 



Events in Africa. British explorers have 

 been very active in Africa during the past half 

 century. In 1849 Dr. Livingstone discovered Lake 

 Ngami, in 1859 Lake Nyassa, and in 1868 Lake 

 Bangweolo : he explored the Zambesi and its tribu- 

 taries and the Lualaba, and traveled from coast to 

 coast. Capt. Speke discovered Victoria Nyanza 

 in 1858, and the same year, in company with 

 Burton, Lake Tanganyika ; and Sir Samuel Baker 

 found Albert Nyanza in 1864; others have followed 

 and filled out the map of Africa in connection 

 with the explorers of other nations. Colonies have 

 been planted and the lines of British protectorates 

 and spheres of influence extended in eastern, west- 

 ern, and southern Africa. 



The colonies in West Africa have given trouble 

 from time to time during the reign. In 1863 an 

 expedition sent against the warlike Ashantis had 

 to return on account of the deadly climate. In 

 1872, after some Dutch possessions had been gained 

 by England through purchase and exchange, the 

 King of the Ashantis refused to evacuate the ter- 

 ritory, claiming that tribute was due to him. Sir 

 Garnet Wolseley was sent against him with a 

 force in 1873, defeated him, burned his capital, 

 Kumassi, and forced him to accept the terms of 

 England, which included the prohibition of human 

 sacrifices. In 1895 another expedition was sent 

 against the then King of Ashanti, or of the part 

 that was left of it, Prempeh, who had refused to 

 accept a British resident and had proposed to send 

 envoys to England, refusing to treat with the 

 Governor of the Gold Coast. An ultimatum was 

 sent to him, demanding that slave catching and 

 human sacrifice should be stopped. Denying 

 charges of these things, he talked defiantly, but 

 yielded without resistance when the English 

 reached Kumassi. Lagos was taken in 1851 and 

 formally ceded in 1861, and other adjacent terri- 

 tory has been since annexed. 



The British possessions in South Africa were 

 greatly extended during the reign; Natal was 

 added in 1842; British Kaifraria, taken about 

 1IS4S, was added to < ape Colony in i860; Basuto- 

 land in 1868; Griqualand West in 1872; Griqua- 

 land East and neighboring territory in 1874- 7.~>. 

 The Transvaal was annexed in 1877, but restored 

 to the Boers under British suzerainty in Issl. 



There were wars with the Kaffirs in 1846 and 

 in 1851-'52, with the Galekas and Gaikas in 

 1877-78, and with the Basutos in 1880-'81. Of 

 the wars with native tribes, the most important 

 was that made on the Zulus, about 1879. Under 

 their King, Cetewayo, they seem to have been 

 friendly to the English; but some trouble having 

 arisen with the colonists, arbitrators were ap- 

 pointed who decided that certain disputed terri- 

 tory claimed by the Zulus was theirs by right. 

 But Sir Bartle Frere was made Lord High Com- 

 missioner, and he seems to have avoided a settle- 

 ment with the intention of bringing the Zulu 

 territory under British rule. However this may 

 be, the war was regarded in England as uniu-ce-- 

 sary. The English army sustained a complete and 

 sudden defeat at Isandlwana, Jan. 22, 1879. The 

 loss was given as 30 officers and 500 men of the 

 imperial troops and 70 men of the colonials, to- 

 gether with the whole train of supplies. There 

 was another serious reverse March 12. In July 

 the Zulus were completely defeated at Ulundi, 

 where they met a loss estimated at 800 to 1,500, 

 while the British lost 10 killed and 53 wounded. 

 Cetewayo was captured in August. Zululand was 

 apportioned among 13 chiefs, but some of them 

 proved to be cruel oppressors, and at length, in 

 1882, in accordance with the wish of the Zulus 

 and on the recommendation of Bishop Colenso of 

 Natal, Cetewayo was restored under conditions. 

 He was taken to London first, with a view to 

 impressing him with the strength and glory of the 

 English nation. In 1883 he attempted to regain 

 his former sovereignty over territory that had been 

 assigned to another chief. He was wounded, and 

 afterward kept prisoner till his death, in 1884. 



An incident of the Zulu War was the death 

 of the prince imperial of France, the only son of 

 Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie. He had 

 gone out with a reconnoitering party; they were 

 surprised by the enemy, who killed the prince and 

 two troopers with their assegais. The English 

 Government was assailed for having accepted his 

 services, but it was found that the prince had 

 wished to serve in the army, and had been refused 

 by the home authorities, but allowed to go out 

 upon his own account to see something of war, 

 which he was very anxious to do. 



The troubles with the Boers of the Transvaal, 

 the aggressions upon their territory, the annexa- 

 tion, the war of 1880-'S1, culminating in the de- 

 feat of the British army at Majuba Hill when the 

 British commander, Sir George Pomeroy Colley, 

 who was the Lord High Commissioner for South- 

 east Africa, was slain, with 82 others, and 184 

 were wounded or captured and the terms of set- 

 tlement afterward, have been so exhaustively re- 

 viewed during the recent South African War that 

 it is unnecessary to enter into them here. They 

 are given in detail in the articles on CAPE COLONY 

 and SOUTH AFRICA in former volumes of the 

 Annual Cyclopaedia. The incidents of the Jame- 

 son raid in 1896 and of the war with the Boers 

 which is still in progress are fresh in memory, 

 and need scarcely be alluded to. 



About 1839 the Pasha of Egypt, who had con- 

 quered Syria, turned his arms against the Sultan, 

 whereupon the English and Austrians went to the 

 rescue of the Turks, bombarded Acre, and forced 





