VICTORIA. 



of the governments which was rejected by the 

 United States Senate. Later commissions from 

 the two countries met at Washington, where it 

 was announced that " her Britannic Majesty has 

 authorized her high commissioners and plenipo- 

 tentiaries to express in a friendly spirit the regret 

 felt bv her .Majesty's Government for the escape, 

 under whatever arcumstances, of the Alabama 

 and other vessels from British ports, and for the 

 depredations committed by these vessels." After 

 laving ilo\\n -nine rules in regard to neutrals, the 

 treaty provided for the settlement of the Alabama 

 rlainis l>v five arbitrators, to meet at Geneva and 

 to he appointed by the (Jiieen. the President, the 

 Kinperor of Hra/.il. the King of Italy, and the 

 President of the Swiss Confederation. It provided 

 al>o for a tribunal to settle individual claims be- 

 t ween the countries, and a commission to take up 

 tin- fisheries question; and referred the dispute 

 ;;l>oiu the Oregon boundary to the German Em- 

 peror. When the arbitrators met they refused to 

 allow all the American claims, and those for in- 

 direct losses, which were immense and which 

 raised a storm of indignation in England, were 

 withdrawn. But by unanimous vote England was 

 held responsible for the acts of the Alabama, and 

 a majority found her responsible for those of the 

 Florida and some of those of the Shenandoah. The 

 award was $15,500,000, and all claims of citizens 

 were disallowed. On the other hand. Great Britain 

 received an award of $5,500,000 in gold on account 

 of the Canadian fisheries claims. 



The trouble about the taking of fur seals in 

 Bering Sea by Canadians and the claim of the 

 I'nited States to exclusive jurisdiction there as 

 coming with the purchase of Alaska from Russia 

 began as far back as 1872, but the United States 

 did not attempt to enforce its rights till 188G, when 

 -ome schooners belonging to a large fleet from 

 Hritish Columbia were seized and taken to Sitka; 

 but on protest of the British minister the Pres- 

 ident ordered them to be released, without con- 

 clusion of the questions involved. Others were 

 taken in 1887. At the request of the United States 

 the governments interested entered into negotia- 

 tions in 1888, which were not concluded. Other 

 seizures were made and diplomatic controversy 

 went on till 1802, when, at Secretary Blaine's sug- 

 gc-tion, the matter was referred to arbitrators, who 

 met at Paris and delivered a decision contrary to 

 the contention of the United States, Aug. 15, 1*893. 

 This made good the claims of the Canadians for 

 damages, and the commission appointed to make 

 the award placed it at $473,151.2(5. 



The ilispiit.- between Great Hritain and Vene- 

 zuela in regard to the boundary between Venezuela 

 and Hritish Guiana came up about 1894. The 

 I're-idcnt -cut a warlike message to Congress. In 

 l^'.t.'i an extended diplomatic correspondence en- 

 >ucd between the representatives of the two coun- 

 tries which aroused much feeling on both sides of 

 tin- Atlantic, and war talk was quite current un- 

 til the matter was referred to a commission. 



After gold was discovered in Alaska a boundary 

 controversy arose and commissions were appointed. 

 On .Ian. .'50, 1S!I7. a treaty was signed providing 

 for the demarcation of as much of the boundary 

 a* lies along the one hundred and forty-first 

 meridian. 



The Franchise. The franchise, which had 



been extended by the reform bill of 1S32. was 



further extended by a reform bill in 1SU7. 



Reform bills had boon brought in by Lord Russell 



Without effect in 18.V2. isr.l. and in 18C.2: and in 



lHli<; Mr. Gladstone introduced one that he had 



joined with Lord Russell in preparing. On the 



<-ion of the second reading Mr. Disraeli re- 



minded Mr. Gladstone of his opposition to the re- 

 form bill of 1832, when he was a Conservative. 

 The speech of Mr. Gladstone, who was then Chan- 

 cellor of the Exchequer under Lord John Russell 

 as Prime Minister, is regarded as among the best 

 of his speeches. In its conclusion he said : " This 

 bill is in a state of crisis and of peril and the 

 Government along with it. ... We stand with it 

 now; we may fall with it a short time hence. 

 If we do so fall, we, or others in our places, 

 shall rise with it hereafter. ... At some point of 

 the contest you may possibly succeed. You may 

 drive us from our seats. You may bury the bill 

 that we have introduced, but . . . you can not 

 fight against the future. Time is on our side. The 

 great social forces which move onward in their 

 might and majesty, and which the tumult of our 

 debates does not for a moment impede or disturb 

 those great social forces are against you; they 

 are marshaled on our side; and the banner which 

 we now .carry in this fight, though perhaps at 

 some moment it may droop over our sinking heads, 

 yet it will soon again float in the eye of heaven, 

 and it will be borne by the firm hands of the 

 united people of the three kingdoms, perhaps not 

 to an easy, but to a certain, and a not far distant 

 victory." 



The bill failed and the Liberals went out of 

 office; but the next year the Tories brought in a 

 bill for extending the suffrage which went even 

 further than the one of the preceding year, and 

 further still after it had been through the com- 

 mittee and been modified by Liberals and Radicals. 

 Lord Cranborne described it as " a leap in the 

 dark," a phrase ascribed usually to Lord Derby. 

 In 1868 the borough franchise was slightly ex- 

 tended in Ireland. 



In 1884 Mr. Gladstone introduced another re- 

 form bill, which was carried. It extended the 

 franchise in the counties to the same extent as 

 that in the boroughs. The rural laborers had not 

 theretofore been considered politically; but a 

 movement of organization among them, begun in 

 1872 under the leadership of Joseph Arch, had 

 drawn attention to the injustice done in leaving 

 them out of the provisions of the former franchise 

 acts. 



A measure to introduce voting by ballot was in- 

 troduced in 1871, but not passed until 1S72, when 

 it was carried as an experiment to continue in 

 force till 1880. The property qualification for 

 members of Parliament was abolished about 1858, 

 and about the same time the civil disabilities were 

 removed from Jews, who were allowed^ thenceforth 

 to omit from the oath " on the true faitli of a 

 Christian." 



The House of Lords. The privilege of voting 

 by proxy was given up by the House of Lords 

 in 1868. Later the Crown was given power to 

 create life peerages, a proceeding which had 

 aroused great opposition when it was proposed 

 about 1858 to bestow a life peerage on one of the 

 judges. 



Church Affairs. The early years of the reign 

 saw the so-called "Oxford movement," which cul- 

 minated in the withdrawal of John Henry New- 

 man and other scholars from the Church of Eng- 

 land to that of Rome and the establishment of the 

 Puseyite, or ritualistic, party in the Church. The 

 interest which the movement awakened arid the 

 ability of the converts, and the fact that, they 

 came from the great university where they were 

 leaders of thought, no doubt led to a belief in 

 Rome that England was on the verge of a great 

 reaction which would carry her hack to the an- 

 cient communion: and this belief was perhaps 

 the inspiring cause of a papal bull issued in " 



