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THE LIBRARY 

OF 

THE UNIVERSITY 

OF CALIFORNIA 

LOS ANGELES 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE 

The publishers desire to express their regret for the delay 
which has taken place in the appearance of this, the final, volume 
of the " British Empire Series." The work has been one 
^J great difficulty, articles having been secured from writers in 
all parts of the world ; and the passage of proofs to regions 
often almost inaccessible to the post has caused frequent in- 
terruption in the progress of the work. They are now glad to 
have concluded the work upon the scheme originally laid down 
and think they may justly claim that the Series, in its complete 
form, constitutes a library of Imperial interest and importance 
which is entirely unique in aim and comprehension. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE SERIES 



VOL. V 



KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TKUB^^ER & CO. L™ 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE SERIES. 
In Five Volumes, with Twelve Maps. Large post 8vo. 

VOL. I.— INDIA, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, British North 
Borneo, Hong-Kong. Two Maps. 

VOL. II.— BRITISH AFRICA. Four Maps. 

VOL. III.— BRITISH AMERICA. Two Maps. 

VOL. IV.— AUSTRALASIA. Two Maps. 

VOL. v.— GENERAL. Two Maps. 

The Vohimes will be i^mied successively at intervals of about one month. 



THE LAST BOER WAR. By H. Rider H.^ggard. Paper 
Cover. Is. 

CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS; or Re- 
marks on Recent Events in Zululand, Xatal, and the Transvaal. By 
H. RIDKR Haggard. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown Svo. 3s. 6d. 
Paternoster Library. 



THE WOLSELEY SERIES OF MILITARV WORKS. 

Edited by Captain W. H. James, late R.E. 

New Voujmes. Uniform. Demy Svo. 

THE CONDUCT OF WAR. By Baron von der Goltz. 10s. 6d. 

CROMWELL AS A SOLDIER. By Lt.-Col. T. S. B.vldock, 
R.A. AVith Twelve Maps and Plans. 15s. 

NAPOLEON AS A GENERAL. By Count Yorck von 
Wartenburg. Two Vols. 

GOURKO'S RAID, liy Colonol Epauohin, of th(^ Russian Staff. 
London : rATKUNOSTKii HousK, Chaking Cross Road, W'.G. 



THE ISLE OF MAN, GIBRALTAR, 

MALTA, ST HELENA, BARBADOS, 

CYPRUS, THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, 

THE BRITISH ARMY &" NAVY 



HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, AND 
GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 



IV/TN TWO MAPS 



LONDON 
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD 

PATERNOSTKR MOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 

1902 



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b 



PEEFATOEY NOTE 

The papers comprised in these volumes were most of 
them given originally as lectures in the Sunday After- 
noon Course at the South Place Institute, Finsbury, fi'om 
1895 to 1898, with the object of affording trustworthy 
information concerning the various colonies, settle- 
ments, and countries scattered over the world which 
go to form the whole known as " The British Empire." 
It was thought that a wider and deeper knowledge of 
the growth, present condition, and possibilities of each 
integral part of our Empire would tend to strengthen 
the sympathetic, material, and political ties which 
unite the Colonies to the Mother Country. 

The generous response to the invitation to lecture 
was very gratifying ; travellers, natives, and those to 
whom had been given the onerous task of governing the 
various provinces of our Empire, vied with one another 
in their willingness to impart the special knowledge 
which they had acquired. 

The lecturers were asked, when possible, to give a 
short account of the country prior to its incorporation, 
its colonial history, the effect of the British connection 
on the country and the natives, and the outlook for 
the future. To these topics were added the conditions 
for colonisation, of trade and commerce, the state and 
local government, and the laws of the country, especi- 



1001925 



vi PREFATORY XOTE 

ally where there was anj great difference from those 
of the United Kingdom. 

The task has demonstrated the many and various 
interests contained in this vast subject, and has far ex- 
ceeded the original limit. It is, however, hoped that 
the wider public to which the articles now appeal will 
be as sympathetic as the original audiences. 

VrSL SHEOWEING, 

Hon, See. Institute Committee. 

South Place Institute, 
Frx^BURT, Lo?»D02f, E.G. 



The Eiiitor and Publishers of the British Empire Series 
desire to express their obligations to the Publishers of the 
following works, from which many of the facts and statistics 
in the Appendices have been gathered. 

Statistical Abstract for the several Colonial and other Possessions of 

the United Kingdom. Annual, is. 4d. 
Statistical Abstract relating to British India. Annual, is. 3d. 
Statistical Abstract for the Principal and other Foreign Countries. 

Annual, is. 6d. 
Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with 

Foreign Countries and British Possessions, compiled at the 

Custom House. 

*»* These four Blue-books are published for His Maje.'ty's 
Stationery Office bv Wyman & Sons, and can be purchased of 
Eyre »& Spotti.- 

Colonial Office List, containing Historical and Statistical Informa- 
tion of the Colonial Dependencies of Great Britain. With 
maps of each Colony. Also a record of the Public Services of 
the several Colonial Governments and other persons connected 
with the Colonies. An invaluable annual of the Colonies. 
Pnblished by Harrison & Sons. Price ice. 6d. 

Indian Office List. Also published annually by Harrison & Sons. 



PREFATORY NOTE vii 

Statesman's Year-Book. A Statistical and Historical Ailnnal of the 
States of the World and their Colonies. Contains a valuable 
account of the British Colonies and those attached to Foreign 
Countries. Edited by Dr. J. Scott Keltie. Published by 
Macmillan & Co. Price los. 6d. 

Whitaker's Almanack. Contain^ among the many useful articles an 
account of the Colonies of Great Britain and other Countries. 
Price 2s. 6d. 

Hazell's Annual also contains an annual statement of the Colonies. 
Price 3s. 6d. 

The Historical Geography of the British Colonies, by C. P. Lucas, 
B.A., of the Colonial Office, contains an exhaustive resume of 
the history and geography of the British Colonies. Vol. Y. 
Part I. is just published by the Clarendon Press. 6s. The 
prices vary from 5 s. to 9s. 6d. a volume. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Introduction .....••• xi'i 
By The Right lion. Lord Avebury (Sir John Lubbock), 
F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D. 

Isle op Man i 

By J. R. CowELL, J. P. {Member of the House of Keys). 

Thk Channel Islands 27 

By Percy Eoward Amy, F.R.G.S. [Author of "■Sunny 
Jersey, ^^ ^^ Beautiful Jersey,''' <fcc. )• 

Gibraltar ........ 60 

By Sir Cavendisu Boyle, K.C.M.G., C.M.G. (late Colo- 
nial Secretary, Gibraltar). 

The Maltese Islands 82 

By Claude Lyon [of Malta). 

Cyprus and some op its Possibilities . . .101 
By Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Geddes. 

St. Helena . . . . . • • . 1 10 

By Robert Armitage Sterndale [Governor of St. Helena; 
Author of ^'Mammalia of British India and Ceylon," 
d:c.). 

The Negro in Barbados . . . . .127 

By Walter Merivale, Memh. Inst. C.E. [late Managini/ 
Director of the Barbados Railway). 

The British Empire of To-day and To-morrow . 148 

By Sir C. E. Howard Vincent, K.C.M.G., C.B., M.P. 

The British Navy 154 

By J. Cornelius Wheeler. 

Naval Bases and Coaling Stations . . . .178 
By C. H. Crofts [Author of "Britain On and Beyond 

the Sea "). 



X CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The British Army . . , . . . .205 
By Captain H. R. Beddoes. 

The Law affecting Natives of the United Kingdom 

IN other parts of the British Empire . .227 
By F. H. M. Corbet. 

The Railway Systems of Greater Britain — 

(a) Introduction ....... 242 

By R. W. Murray. 

(b) India • . -252 

By A. K. CONNELL. 

(c) Africa . . . ■ . . . . . 256 

By the Hon. Sir David Tennant, K.C.M.G. 

(d) Canada ........ 263 

By Sidney G. B. Coryn. 

(e) Australasia ....... 266 

By tbe Hon. D. \V. Carnegie. 

Production of Gold in Greater Britain . . .276 
By J. W. Broomhead. 

Britain's Share in Polar Discovery . . . 285 

By Millar Christy, F.L.S. 

The Postal Communications of the Empire . -313 
By L. T. HoRNE. 

Electric Telegraph Service — 

(a) Cable and Colonial Telegraphs . . 332 

By Ferdinand E. Kappey. 

{h) Indian Telegraphs . . . • -353 
By C. H. Reynolds, CLE. 

The lliimsii Mercantile Marine .... 387 

r.y R. .1. COKNEWALL-JONES. 

lNTEI!-I>RITISir TitAlJK AND ITS I )kVI:LOPMENT 434 

Bv T. B. Browning, M.A. 



CONTENTS 



XI 



Sport and Athletics, and the British Empire 

By Eustace H. Miles, M.A. {Amateur Tennis Champion, 
Author of " A History of Rome"). 

Mohammedanism and the British Empire . 
By R. G. Corbet. 

Christian Missions ....... 

By the Rev. G. Smith, C.I.K , LL.D. 

Duties of Empire ....... 

By John M. Robertson. 

Imperial Federation ....... 



PAGE 

489 



519 
542 
558 

584 



]}y Herman W. Marcus {Editor of 
Empire Review"). 



The British 



APPENDIX 

Duties op Empire (Note) . . . . . -615 

Isle op Man, Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, 

Cyprus, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha . .617 

The British Empire . . . . . . -623 

Patents ........ 629 

International Copyright . . . . .629 

Weights, Measures and Coinage (by H. J. Chaney) . 629 

Foreign Colonial Possessions — 

Spain . . . , . . . . -632 

Portugal ........ 633 

Holland ........ 635 

France . . . . . -637 

Belgium ........ 643 

Denmark ........ 644 

Germany ........ 645 

Russia . . . . . . .647 

Italy 648 

United States of America ..... 648 
Japan ...... . . 649 



xii CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Statistical Tables — 

British Empire . . . . . . .650 

Trade of United Kingdom with Foreign Countries 

which have Colonies ..... 654 

Colonising Countries . . . . .656 

Colonial Chronological Table ..... 663 

Census Returns . . . . . . .681 



INTEODUCTION 



By the right HON. LORD AVEBURY, F.R.S., 
D.C.L., LL.D., Etc. Etc. Etc. 

Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co. have, I think, done a good 
service in pubHshiiig this Series. If our great Empire 
is to be preserved, it must be understood ; and some 
of our wars would have been avoided if others had 
understood us better. The Boers of the Transvaal and 
the Orange Free State would never have attacked us if 
they had not been grievously and wickedly misled as 
to our intentions, and grossly ignorant of our strength 
and resources. 

The rapidity with which we have placed an im- 
mense and well-equipped force in the field at a distance 
of 6000 miles has indeed been a surprise to every 
one, and even I think to ourselves, though we knew that, 
in the words of an American statesman, " our flag 
waves on every sea and in every port, and the morning 
drum-beat of her soldiers, following the sun and keep- 
ing company with the hours, circles the earth with 
one continuous strain of the martial airs of England." 

To maintain that Army and Navy in full efficiency 
is a duty which I doubt not we shall perform ; but if 
our Empire is to be permanent it nuist rest not on 
force, but on justice, and be held together by the sym- 
pathy and goodwill of all its parts. 

The history of the world is full of warnings. Other 
great empires have risen and fallen again, and if we 
are to escape their fate, we must avoid their errors. 

Recent events have shown that, whether from our 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

own fault or more probably from ignorance, we are 
not popular with foreign countries, though happily 
there are exceptions, and we shall always remember 
the expressions of goodwill which w^e have received 
fi'om Italy, Greece, Scandinavia, and some other 
countries. 

The dangers of the future are not, however, perhaps 
so much from without as from within. 

The different sections of our widespread community 
have not in all respects identical interests, we must all 
be prepared to meet some sacrilices ; we cannot be 
independent of, if Ave are to be united to, one another. 
Again, there are profound differences of religion and of 
race. The centre of gravity of our Empire is English, 
hut the majority of our people are Asiatics, and it is 
not easy for an Asiatic to understand the views of an 
Englishman, or an Englishman those of an Asiatic. 

Their customs have the force of law, and many have 
continued from time immemorial. We have done our 
best to respect their wishes, and even their prejudices ; 
and we may, I thiifk, fairly claim that we have exercised 
our power, not as a privilege, but as a trust. 

The abolition of the slave trade has been mainly 
due to our efforts, and cost us not less than 
;^ 1 00,000,000. 

If we look back to ancient times, among the Greeks 
the colonies were expected to bear not only their own 
expenditure, but a large part of that of the mother 
city : the Romans made it a principle that the pro- 
vinces should bear the expense of the empire. Spain, 
Portugal, and Holland have all exacted large revenues 
from their colonial possessions — revenues, however, 
which have often been obtained at great expense. 
France, Germany, and the United States impose pro- 
tective dues for the benefit of home manufacturers 
and shipowners. France, for instance, has imposed 
ahuost prohibitive duties in Madagascar, and the 



INTRODUCTION xv 

United States, us soon as they annexed Porto Rico, 
excluded from the carrying trade all shipping except 
that of the United States, 

In the case of the great self-governing Colonies, our 
statesmen seem to have devised a system by which the 
advantages of union with the Empire have been com- 
bined with those of practical self-government. They 
have their own Government, they make their own 
laws, we do not interfere in their internal affairs, and 
yet we are knit together into one community, and 
united by feelings of affection and sympathy which 
are both deep and of great practical importance. 
Why is it that the Press of France and Russia— even 
of Germany — teems with attacks on, and calumnies 
of, England ? Why have we constantly bitter questions 
and rumours of war, while with our Colonies and 
India Ave are on the most friendly footing, animated 
by feelings of sympathy and goodwill, war is never so 
much as thought of, and any attack on one, as recent 
events have shown, is felt as an attack on all. 

If a country becomes part of the British Em- 
pire, restrictions on trade and commerce, foreign 
and domestic, are reduced to a minimum ; popular 
government, in which all nationalities are allowed 
to participate, is gradually introduced, with English 
common law as its basis. 

As soon as the community has become sufficiently 
numerous and strong, self-government is established, 
the bond with the Mother Country being retained by 
the right of appeal to the Privy Council, and by the 
necessity for the Queen's assent to bills before they 
become laAv. The latter is practically never withheld, 
but the power is nevertheless of great importance. 

The Mother Country claims no special advantages 
in trade, and in the only case when such are voluntarily 
given — that of Canada, though the inducement has 
no doubt been in great measure the love for the old 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

country, and the desire to knit together the ties which 
bind us to one another, still there is another logical 
reason, for as ive admit Canadian products to the British 
market on more favourable terms than she receives 
from any other country, it is only natural, apart from 
feeling, that she should offer us some corresponding 
advantages. She has, moreover, announced that she 
will extend those advantages to any other country which 
will admit her products on the same terms as we do. 

Let me in support of these views refer to three 
eminent foreign authorities. 

The North Amet'ican Revieiv for April 1896 contains 
an admirable article by the great American economist, 
Mr. AVells, on the Imperial policy of Great Britain, 
with reference to Mr. Cleveland's wicked threat 
of war in reference to the Venezuela dispute, in 
which the arbitration has clearly shown that he was 
wrong and Lord Salisbury was right. Mr. Wells 
refers first to our exertions for the abolition of slavery. 
Passing on to Egypt, he points out that " at no pre- 
vious period, since Egypt began to have a name, has 
the fellah lived under a government so careful to 
protect his rights." 

" Under such circumstances Egypt has never — 
certainly not within a recent period — enjoyed so large 
a measure of prosperity." 

Mr. Wells then proceeds to discuss our government 
of India. After referring to the tyranny and con- 
stant war in former times, he continues : " To-day the 
humblest Indian peasant is secure in the possession 
and control of his property, and if wronged in any 
way can appeal to and find protection in the courts 
which England has established. As one result of this 
policy, the buried treasures of India are beginning to 
come forth and seek investment in England's interest- 
bearing securities. Under native and Mogul rulers, 
the only compulsory contribution was an assessment 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

on land, which averaged about 12s. per acre. To-day 
the land-tax of India, which the Government has been 
obliged to maintain for general revenue purposes, does 
not average more than 2s. per acre. 

" The present population of India would not have 
found food under any previous government of that 
country, and its very existence has been made possible 
only through the conditions of food production and 
distribution established by England's Government. 

" In short, there is no Government in the world 
Avhose administration is more honestly conducted and 
which is doing more for the material good of the 
governed than the present English Government of 
India." 

Mr. Wells then proceeds to discuss our commercial 
policy. " Fifty years ago," he says, " the commercial 
policy of all countries claiming to be in any degree 
civilised, was based on the theory that commerce 
could benefit one country only to the extent that it 
injured another, and this is the theory that to-day 
characterises the commerce and trade policy of all 
nations — especially the United States — except Eng- 
land. Great Britain alone opens her ports, and im- 
poses no restrictions on the trade of other countries, 
nor seeks to exclude their productions." 

" In this respect England stands alone. No other 
nation that has ever existed, or now exists, has ever 
adopted a similar policy." 

We owe to my friend the late M. Barthelemy de 
St. Hilairc, who was Foreign Secretary for France in 
M. Thiers' Government, an excellent work on India, in 
which he bears generous testimony to the beneficence 
and justice of our rule in India, which, he says, 
" merite que tous les amis de I'humanite et de la 
civilisation en souhaitent le succes. Faire I'l'duca- 
tion politique et morale de deux cent cinquante 
millions de nos semblables est une tache prodigieuse, 

h 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

qui, noblement commencee avec ce siecle, exigera, pour 
etre entierement accomplie, une suite d'eftorts dont on 
ne saurait preciser la duree." We have to face, he 
truly says, a difficult problem, but it is very gratifying 
to be assured that we have the " applaudissements 
sinceres de tons les esprits eclaires et impartiaux." 

As regards Canada, I may invoke Bishop Whipple 
of Minnesota, who commends us as having " not spent 
one dollar in Indian Avars, and have had no Indian 
massacres. Why ? In Canada the Indian treaties 
call these men ' the Indian subjects of her Majesty.' 
When civilisation approaches them they are placed on 
ample reservations, receive aid in civilisation, have 
personal right in proj)erty, are amenable to law, and 
protected by law, have schools, and Christian people 
send them the best teachers." 

Moreover, there is other testimony more conclusive 
than the opinion of any individuals, however eminent 
and impartial. 

When the sepoy soldiers mutinied, and we were 
holding): our own in India with a mere handful of 
troops, we must have been swept into the sea if the 
people of India had risen against us. So far from 
that they took no part in the revolt, and their be- 
haviour in that terrible crisis was a striking testimony 
to the justice and beneficence of our rule. 

Similar evidence is afforded by the history of such 
places as Hong Kong and Singapore. The former 
before its cession to Enofland Avas a barren island, 
inhabited by a few fishermen. It is now croAvded by 
thousands of Chinese, attracted there by the mildness, 
justice, and Avisdom of British rule. 

For the same reason the almost uninhabited island 
of Singapore noAv teems Avith a dense population draAvn 
by the same causes from all the countries round. 

i\Ir. Wells sums up the admirable article from 
which r have already quoted as folloAvs : — 



INTRODUCTION xix 

" Wherever sovereignty of England has gone, two 
bhides of grass have grown where one grew before. 
Her flag, wherever it has been advanced, has benefited 
the country over which it floats, and has carried with 
it civihsation, the Christian religion, order, justice, and 
prosperity. England has always treated a conquered 
race with justice, and what under her rule is the law 
for the white man is the law for his black, red, or 
yellow brother. And here we have one explanation 
for the fact that England alone of the nations has been 
successful in establishing and maintaining colonies ; 
and of the further extraordinary fact that a compara- 
tively small insular country, containing less than 
40,000,000 inhabitants, can successively preside over 
the destinies of about 360,000,000 other members of 
the human race." 

Well then may we all join in Milton's prayer: 
" O Thou, who of Thy free grace didst build up this 
Brittanick Empire to a glorious and enviable height, 
with all her daughter islands about her, stay us in this 
felicitie." 

We may join in it, not only in our own interests, 
but in those of the civilised world. Considering the 
complete power of self-government enjoyed by our 
great colonies, I cannot but think that many other 
communities, now separate from us, would find that 
they could enjoy all the real advantages of independ- 
ence, and yet obtain the inestimable benefits^ of union, 
if they were to combine with us, and thus secure for 
themselves the advantages of citizenship in this great 
Empire. 



I S T. E OF MAN 

By J. R. CO WELL 

{Member of the House of Keys) 



History. 

The early history of the Isle of Man is shrouded in 
a dense mist of myth and tradition. All that we can 
say is, that there is but little doubt that the earliest 
inhabitants of Man were of non-Aryan race, because 
there are distinct traces of a cranial development 
typical of such a race among Manxmen at the present 
day. 

Then, as in Ireland, came the Aryan Gaels, so that 
in the fifth century, when it is probable that the Manx 
were converted to Christianity, it would seem that the 
population was composed of those two races, the latter 
preponderating. As regards the conversion of the 
Manx, it is clear that from the fifth to the eighth 
centuries they were mainly Christianised by Irish 
missionaries, as some of these missionaries have left 
their names to our ancient keeills and churches. 
There are also recorded in the same way a few names 
of missionaries belon";inef to the Gallwcffian and 
Columbian Churches, which would tend to show a 
connection, though probably a less intimate one, with 
Galloway and the Western Isles of Scotland. These 
Celtic influences, though weakened by Norse incursions 
and settlements, did not entirely cease till the English 
connection was finally established under the Stanleys. 
So firndy, indeed, were they implanted, that as late as 
V A 



2 GENERAL 

the eigliteentli century the majority of the inhabitants 
of the Isle of Man still spoke their native tongue. 
Early in the ninth century the emigration from Scan- 
dinavia began. It took two directions : one, mainly 
Danish, to the north-east of England, and the other, 
mainly Norwegian, to the coasts of the Shetlands, 
Orkneys, northern Scotland, the Western Isles, Ireland, 
and the Isle of Man. The annals of Ulster tell us 
that the earliest incursion of the Vikings took place 
in A.D. 794, and that, in 798, they burned Inispatrick, 
probably identical with Peel. These visitors seem at 
first to have mainly used the Isle of Man as a con- 
venient centre for their forays upon the adjacent 
coasts, and as a depot for storing their spoil till they 
conveyed it home before the winter set in ; but, in the 
year 852 the Norse Viking, Olave the White, reached 
Ireland with a large fleet and founded a Norse princi- 
pality at Dublin. 

At the same period the Isle of Man must also have 
received numerous Scandinavian colonists, but they do 
seem to have been strong enough to subdue the native 
inhabitants till about the end of the ninth century. 

From this period till 1079 ^^^^ island was mainly 
ruled by the Norsemen of Dublin, though there were 
intervals of independence and also of close connection 
with Norway. In that year it was conquered by the 
Icelander, Godred Crovan, who founded a dynasty that 
reigned not only over Man but most of the Western 
Scotch Islands, under the suzerainty of Norway for 
nearly two hundred years. 

It was in connection with the kingdom of Man and 
the Isles, as it was called, that, in 1 154, the diocese of 
Sodor and Man, i.e. the South Isles (of Scotland) and 
Man, which was under the archiepiscopal rule of Dron- 
theim in Norway, was founded. Soon after the battle 
of Largs, in 1263, this kingdom fell into the hands of 
the Scotch. So ends the epoch of Norso rule in Man. 



ISLE OF MAN 3 

Its chid' claim to remembrance is that, (hiring 
it, the constitution which has remained, in form at 
least, to the present day, was established. For nearly 
eighty years after it the unfortunate Island of Man 
was an object of contention between the Scotch and 
the English. 

Finally the latter prevailed, but there was no 
period of settled government till 1406, when Hcmy 
IV. presented Man to Sir John Stanley. It remained 
in the hands of his descendants till the execution of 
the seventh Earl of Derby in 1 6 5 1 , when it was 
handed over by the Parliament to Lord Fairfax. 

At the Restoration it reverted to the Stanleys, who 
held it till the death of the tenth Earl without issue in 
1735. During the brief interval between 1735 and 
1765, when the English Crown again took possession 
of it, it was ruled by the Atholls, who Avcrc descended 
from a daughter of the seventh Earl. 

It is impossible in so brief a sketch to give even 
an idea of the course of Manx history during this 
period of 360 years between 1406 and 1765, but we 
may remark that, generally speaking, it was largely 
occupied by struggles between the lord and his officials 
on one side and the people on the other. 

Into the determined struggle between the Church 
and State, which went on at the same time, and which 
ultimately ended in favour of the latter, we cannot 
enter here. At first it seemed as if the lord would 
have it all his own Avay, as the Keys, or Manx House 
of Connnons, who appear to have been, occasionally 
at least when acting in a legislative capacity, elected 
by the people, had become his nominees, and the 
ancient customary tenants had been changed into mere 
leaseholders. But by the middle of the seventeenth 
century the Keys began to claim the curious privilege 
of self-election Avhich a century later they had fully 
established, and, by the beginning of the eighteenth 



4 GENERAL 

century, the people had obtained a perpetual tenure at a 
fixed quit-rent, which the change in the value of money 
has since rendered almost nominal. In 1765, the 
English Crown, having bought the sovereign rights of 
the Atholls for ;^7o,ooo and an annuity of ;^2 000 
(their remaining interests and rights were purchased in 
1829 for ;^4i7,i44), resumed its direct rule of the 
island. The immediate reason for this transfer was the 
prevalence of smuggling, which had greatly increased 
since the beginning of the eighteenth century, till be- 
tween 1755 and 1765 it was estimated that it caused a 
loss of about i^3 00,000 a year to the Imperial revenue. 

The constitution of the island remained nominally 
unaffected by its change of rulers, but practically the 
result was to deprive the Keys of the share of the 
control of the insular Customs, which they had for 
the first time obtained in 1737. In fact, during the 
period between 1765 and 1867, the Manx people 
were in a state of political and commercial bondage, 
and it was not till the greater part of it had elapsed 
that they made any effective struggle for freedom. 
As a result of this they, in 1844 ^^^ 1853, secured 
the spending of a larger share of the insular revenue 
in the island, and obtained some other important fiscal 
concessions; and between the latter date and 1867, 
though they were still denied a representative House 
of Keys, they established the germ of nmnicipal self- 
government, and initiated reforms in such matters as 
sanitation and the care of lunatics, which had hitherto 
been totally neglected. 

The climate of the Isle of Man may be fitly de- 
scribed as follows : Its temperatiu'e is more equable 
than that of tlic neighbouring coasts, being somewhat 
higher in autumn and winter, similar in spring, and 
lower in summer. The fact that fuchsias, myrtles and 
other exotics flourish throughout the year in the open 
air, show that tliere is comparatively little frost. 



ISLE OF MAN 5 

Its sunshine is much greater than in any surround- 
ing district. Its winds appear to be much the same 
in strength and frequency, but, as the island is more 
exposed, they arc fult more than on the mainland. 
The question of its rainfall is a more complex one, as 
the fall in the various parts of the island varies so 
considerably. Generally speaking, however, the rain- 
fall is rather greater and more frequent than on the 
adjacent coasts, but much less than in the mountainous 
districts beyond these coasts.^ 

We may say, then, that the Manx climate is equable 
and sunny, and, though humid, decidedly invigorating ; 
that its rainfall, though never excessive, varies con- 
siderably in its different districts ; and that it is nuich 
exposed to winds, which are, for the most part, mild 
and damp. 

Entomology. 

As regards its entomology, and more especially 
amongst the Lepidopterous order of insects known as 
Heterocera, the Isle of Man is strikingly rich in local 
form and variety, its mountains, bogs, heaths, and 
coast all opening up and afibrding to the student a 
magnificent field for investigation and research. Among 
some of the rarer species to be found in the Isle of 
Man, and which are prized by English and other col- 
lectors, may be enumerated the following : Seria Phi- 
lanthiformis, Dianthcecia Ccesia, Dianthcecia Capsophila, 
Folia Nyiroscincta, Cirrhoedia Xerampelina, and numerous 
others. In certain instances the Isle of Man is richer 
in variety than any other known British locality. A 
list of the Heterocera of the island (to the end of 

^ In the north of the island, at Point of Avre, the total rainfall in 
1896 was 22.S50 inches, while seven miles ofY, at foot of mountains, it 
was as high as 43.143. This outline of history, &c.. has been kindly 
contributed by Mr. A. W. Moore, author of the " Diocese of Sodor and 
Man," &c. 



6 GENERAL 

the Noctiuo), by Mr. H. Sliortridge Clarke, F.E.S., of 
Douglas, was some years ago published in the British 
Naturalist magazine. Since then, however, a number 
of other species have been found, and Mr. Clarke 
intends publishing in book form at an early date a 
revised list with copious notes, as to habitat of each of 
the species named, which will prove useful and interest- 
ins^ to the collector. 

Geology. 

Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, of the Geological Survey, has 
for the last two or three years been engaged upon the 
survey of the island, and on the occasion of the excur- 
sion from the British Association in September last, he 
contributed an original and up-to-date sketch of its 
geology, and the handbook Avhich was presented to the 
members of the excursion. The framework of the 
island consists of slaty rocks, which Mr. Lamplugh 
thinks " are not of later agfc than Cambrian." This 
mass is traversed by innumerable small dykes of 
igneous material, mostly pre-carbt)niferous, and is in 
some places punctured by larger intrusive bosses of the 
same. The slates are folded and refolded in an extra- 
ordinary manner, presenting many interesting problems 
for the student. 

A critical examination of them by Mr. Lamplugh 
has caused to be adopted an entirely new reading of 
the origin and nature not only of these, but of similar 
rocks in the Lake District and elsewhere. 

The slates are traversed by valuable mctallit'erous 
lodes, the great lead mines at Foxdale and Laxoy hav- 
ing been among the most successful in the United 
Kingdom. 

Between this series and the carboniferous epoch 
there is an absolute gap. The latter is represented by 
the basal beds at Langness in tlic south and Peel in 
the west, l)y sandstone and limestone at the Point of 



ISLE OF MAN 7 

Ayre in the north, and the Hniestone about Castletown 
in the south. From the latter series were quarried the 
steps of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, presented by the 
celebrated Bishop Wilson. 

The volcanic series of this period is represented by 
the stack of Scarlet and Pooilvaish Bay, and of it Mr. 
Lamplunh writes : " For the student of volcanic pheno- 
mena no liner display could bo desired than is afforded 
by this strip of the Manx coast line, for here he sees a 
small ancient volcano dissected and laid bare."' 

Recent borings for coal in the north of the island 
have revealed beneath an unusual thickness of glacial 
deposits a varied series of Permian and Triassic strata 
on the eroded edges of the upturned carboniferous 
rocks. Though coal has not yet been reached, it 
seems possible that the salt marls may develop a new 
and important industry in the island. 

An important discovery has recently been made at 
Kirk Michael of fuller's earth of excellent quality. 

Glacial geology is well illustrated in the island. 
Its drift sections are of unrivalled extent and interest. 
The foreign boulders are chiefly from the neighbouring 
parts of Scotland and the Lake District. The general 
distribution of the drift deposits and of the boulders, 
the direction of the glacial strides to be found in 
almost every part, even near the summits of the 
highest hills, and the character and arrangement of the 
late glacial and post-glacial deposits, are among the 
indications which combine to force the conclusion that 
the basin of the Irish Sea was entirely filled up by 
an ice-sheet from looo to 2000 feet above sea-level, 
having a general motion of How from N. or NNW., sweep- 
ing southAvards round and along the flank of the island. 

Since the disappearance of this ice-sheet many 
changes have taken place. The streams have lost 
much of their former volume, the lakes have been 
drained, Sulby, the largest river, has diverted from its 



8 GENERAL 

former northerly course to the Lhen eastwards to 

Ramsey. The forests which sheltered the great Elk, 

and the bogs which engulfed these animals, have alike 

disappeared. For all these changes Mr. Lamplugh 

thinks a long- stretch of time must be allowed, dis- 
ci ' 

countenancing the o]3inion that the interval since the 
glacial period may have been comparatively short. 

Biology. 

The small size and isolated condition of the island, 
cut off at an early date from the surrounding lands, 
explain the peculiarities of the Manx fauna and flora, 
e.g. the remarkable paucity of land forms, the presence 
of certain species as well as the absence of others, and 
the peculiar variations met with. 

Out of only twelve land mammals, at least five 
have been introduced. There are but two indio-enous 
reptiles. Of birds, provided as they are with greater 
powers of locomotion, we have about 150 species. 
While over 80 marine fish have been taken from 
immediately around our coast, the fresh -water forms 
do not exceed half-a-dozen. Our entomology is varied 
and interesting. Mr. Wallace, in his " Island Life," has 
called attention to peculiarities of the Manx Lepidop- 
tera, due to conditions of exposure and insulation. For 
example, the common Tortoise-shell Butterfly ( Vanessa 
Urtica) is remarkably small, many others are afl'ected 
in size and colour, while some forms are almost peculiar 
to the island. 

Flowering plants are few, but the lower forms of 
plant life arc well represented — mosses, fungi, lichens, 
algse. 

Our seas are classic ground to the marine biologist 
as being the scene of the pioneer dredging work of 
Professor Edward Forbes, more than sixty years ago. 
In 1892, Dr. Hcrdiiian established a marine laboratory 



ISLE OF MAN 9 

at Port Erin, where already much good work has been 
done. He tliinks that, " probably on account of the 
purity and salinity of the water and of the abundance 
of Pelajjic life, the south end of the Isle of Man would 
be the most suitable spot in the Irish Sea for a sea- 
fish hatchery." 

Archeology. 

The earliest remains of inhabitants are neolithic. 
Flint implements, knives, axes, arrows, awls, and 
scrapers are scattered abundantly over the island, 
and traces of settlements are not infrequent. Polished 
stone implements are less numerous ; most of these are 
of foreign material, evidently introduced by invaders 
or secured by barter. Some of the sepulchral monu- 
ments appear to belong to the transition periud be- 
tween the end of this and the beginning of the Bronze 
Age. 

The Mull circle above Port Erin, " King Orry's 
Grave" at Laxey, and the Cashtal at the Dhoon, are 
of special interest, the former in particular being abso- 
lutely unique in design. Below it, around the hill, arc 
clustered hut foundations, in which have been found 
fragments of pottery and flints similar to those met 
Avitli in the cists composing the circle. 

The Bronze period is poorly represented in imple- 
ments, but sepulchral remains are numerous through- 
out the island, on the mountain slopes and around the 
coast. A fine camp on the summit of South Barrule, 
some remarkable alignments at Braddan Church, some 
small earthwork fortifications on hilltops and rocky 
promontories may date back to this period in their 
origin, though they were probably in continued use 
within historic times. 

A remarkable breed of tailless cats is not un- 
common, and also barn-door fowls without tails. 



lo GENERAL 



Political. 

The political constitution of the Isle of Man to-day 
may be said to consist of the Governor, the Council or 
Upper Chamber, and the House of Keys — the people's 
representatives. The Governor is the appointment of 
the British Crown, and is under the Home Department, 
The Council consists of nine members : the Lieut.- 
Governor, the Bishop (we have the State Church 
in Man), the Archdeacon, the Vicar-General, two 
Deemsters, the common law Judges, the Clerk of 
the Rolls (Judge of Chancery Court), the Attorney- 
General and the Receiver-General. These are paid 
officials, who form the Upper House, and to many 
Radicals (for want of a better name) the Council is 
generally the object of criticism, and is one of those 
institutions which all Radicals and many leading 
Manxmen are anxious to have reformed. To the 
House of Keys twenty-four representatives of the 
people are elected once in seven years by the follow- 
ing franchise : in the country a £4 valuation for 
occupiers, or a 30s. ownership of land. And here, in 
the centre of this great empire, I may tell you, that 
while I have frequently seen it remarked in the press 
that in the far-off colony of New Zealand they have 
lately been sufficiently advanced to grant the parlia- 
mentary franchise to women, the fact has been over- 
looked that we in the Isle of Man conceded the 
parliamentary franchise to ladies more than fifteen 
years ago. And (I am sure yt)u will pardon this little 
expression of vanity if you like) the first lady — and a 
very good-looking lady she was — who ever voted for 
a Member of Parliament in the civilised world, voted 
for the lecturer. Knowing when the Act was passed 
that the franchise could be exercised by ladies, she 
was clever enough to be early at the poll, and the 



ISLE OF MAN i i 

uioiiicnt that the clock struck oij^lit she recorded her 
vote, and thus gained this distinguished honour. I 
have often read the debates in this parhament of 
yours up here on the subject of Home Rule. And 
it has struck nie more than once as being somewhat 
remarkable that, in the British House of Commons, 
when tiie heat has been at an extreme point, and 
when all kinds of arguments for and against have been 
introduced into the debate, the members have seemed 
to icrnoro the fact that in the centre of the British 
Isles there is a little country, with a system not 
absolutely perfect but as near perfection as possible, 
under a Home Rule government. It is remark- 
able that, notwithstanding all the discussion there has 
been on the subject of Home Rule, this little country 
of ours has not been brought in as an object-lesson, 
and that the conditions which obtain in our island 
have not been more frequently referred to in debate. 
Allow me to say as a Manxman, and as one proud of 
beloni^ino- to the ancient Kingdom of Man, that we 
hold our Home Rule government in the highest pos- 
sible esteem. We know its value, and should not 
allow, under any conceivable circumstances, our bigger 
brothers on this side ever to deprive us of it. We 
make our own laws, and have the spending of our 
own taxes. We use our surplus revenue upon public 
schemes of usefulness, such as harbours, roads, educa- 
tion, and advertising the isle as a health resort. For 
instance, we build our own harbours and piers, and we 
have some of the finest solid work in the shape of land- 
ing-piers to be found in the British Isles. These works 
have been constructed out of surplus revenue, and a 
small capital debt which has been created, the interest 
of which Ave can well meet, and have a good deal to 
spare. Allow me to point out one or two features of 
our Home Rule government. In the first place, legis- 
lation amongst us is cheap. Suppose a gas, water, 



12 GENERAL 

railway, tramway, or any other similar company wish 
to seek for powers to carry out one of these works of 
public utility. They can come to their own parlia- 
ment, and, after an expenditure in many cases of only 
a few pounds, they can obtain legislative authority to 
acquire the land and carry out the schemes in which 
they are concerned. And I venture to say that where 
any such scheme has not been opposed by a competing 
company, or by some other interested persons, ;^20 
Avill in many instances suffice to cover the expenses 
incurred in connection with procuring Parliamentary 
powers. Now compare that, if you like, with private 
bill legislation in the British House of Commons. 

Our parliamentary procedure is cheap, in the first 
place, and, in the second place, it is prompt. A bill 
is introduced after leave is given and witnesses are 
called. We stand no nonsense in the examination of the 
witnesses. They are called, they are examined by 
counsel, Ave examine them, and Ave do not alloAv counsel 
to consume too much time, or to Avaste our time and 
their client's time. To use an Americanism, Avhicli I 
have picked up lately in a journey to California, Ave 
" go straight doAvn to bed rock," and Ave ask such perti- 
nent questions as very soon establish the real facts of 
the case, and the bill is introduced, and may even be 
passed, in one day. And I may point out further, that 
the bill is considered and dealt Avith by men Avho, by 
reason of their residence in the immediate locality, 
knoAv the subject-matter Avhich is brought before them, 
and if they have not had the opportunity of making 
themselves acquainted Avith the merits of the case, Avhat 
do Ave do ? We adjourn the House of Keys, sometimes 
for a Aveek or ten days, and in the meantime Ave make 
inquiries, and having ascertained the facts, we are in a 
position to appreciate any objections Avhich may have 
been raised. Then, at the next sitting of the House 
tlic bill is introduced again, and very promptly passed 



ISLE OF MAN 13 

or rejected. Tlie aftairs which concern any part of the 
island are dealt with by men who know best the 
requirements of the locality, and that, I say, is a 
method of legislation and of government of which we 
have every .reason to be proud. Each year, on the 
5 th of July, we have the ancient ceremony of promul- 
gation. Here the old custom continues. In the old days 
the twenty-four Keys had no written or printed statutes, 
but they met from time to time to consider such laws 
as they deemed best for the welfare of the people. 
Later the law was not always written. It was what 
was commonly called " breast law." It was in the 
minds of the judges whose duty it was to administer it. 
Here was the theory. The people in those days had 
no books, and, of course, there was no education. How 
were the people to know the laws that existed ? The 
following method was resorted to. Once a year, in a 
central part of the island, the Manx people gathered 
together in the open air at the foot of a little hill 
known as Tynwald Hill. Here the Lord, or his Lieu- 
tenant, the Judges, and the tAventy-four Keys assembled. 
The laws agreed upon in the past year were read aloud 
in the Manx tongue in the hearing of the people ; 
and the moment the law was promulgated it was 
enforced, and every man had to abide by it. The theory 
was that no one was called upon to obey a law until it 
was first published and made known to him. And we 
keep up that custom still. Every 5 th of July there is 
a general holiday, and the Manx people in their tens of 
thousands, together with English visitors, assemble to 
witness the ancient ceremony. The Manx Parliament, 
public officers, and State clergy march in procession 
to Tynwald Hill. The Governor sits in state, the 
various officers of the law are present, and, though 
we do not now read the whole contents of the bills 
that have been passed, we read the marginal notes 
and a brief description of the object of each Act. 



14 GENERAL 

This information is read in the open aii*. In the 
common laAV courts the usual fee of a lawyer is 
I OS. 6d. The Chancery Court is presided over by 
the Clerk of the Rolls. There is a general gaol de- 
livery or Assize Court presided over by the Governor 
and three Judges, and I am very glad to say they 
have very little to do. Then we have an Appeal Court, 
which also consists of all the Judges and the Governor. 
Then there is the Vice-General's Court, a remnant of 
old ecclesiasticism, which deals with a few effete eccle- 
siastical matters. Let me assure you again we feel far 
ahead of you English people. For instance, a will has 
to be proved and probate granted. The fees for grant- 
ing probate range from 5s. to a maximum of 25s. How 
will that do for a comparison with your system ? We 
have no succession or legacy duty, and no receipt 
stamps. These sources of revenue are held in reserve. 
If at any time we want to raise a large capital sum 
for useful public works, here we have an ample field 
in which to levy taxes. 

With regard to revenue, the ordinary gross revenue 
for 1895 — the last return available — was -^71,733. 
To this spirits contributed ;^3 2,729; tobacco and 
cigars, ^19,680; tea, -£^6671 ; beer and malt, ;^4930; 
wine, i>^93 5; coffee and chicory, ;^82 ; allowance on 
imperial duty-paid goods imported, iS^3 8 30; fees and 
miscellaneous receipts, ^^^6328. The expenditure is, I 
am glad to say, considerably less than the revenue, 
although it is by no means above criticism. In 1895 
the expenditure was ^^65,593, against a revenue of 
^71.733- The expenditure was thus accounted for: 
customs service, ;^2 746; salaries and pensions on civil 
list, ;i^9947 ; police force and police stations, ^^^5698 ; 
gaol, including criminal lunatics and criminal prosecu- 
tions, £g6S : harbours, maintenance and repair, ;i^32 5 i ; 
public education, ;^ 11,636; volunteer service, ^6^415 ; 
public buildings, maintenance and repair, ^^^1551; 



ISLE OF MAN 15 

Manx Northern Railway, guaranteed interest, iJ^S 5 1 ; 
interest on and repayment of debt, ^15,672 ; Imperial 
Exchequer, iJ^ 1 0,000 ; and miscellaneous, ^^3098. So 
you see we spend only £968 on our criminals, and 
£1 1,636 upon public education. We pay out of our 
little island into your exchequer every year ;^ 10,000. 
What is the object of this ? I never could find it 
out. I presume it is for the purpose of protection. I 
think we might save that money, and I think you 
might, in all reason, waive the sum, because if Germany 
or France or some other country ever get as far as the 
Isle of Man, it would be a case of God help England. 
You see we are a long way up the channel, and, there- 
fore, to protect yourselves you must protect us. We 
used to have twenty-five soldiers on the island, but the 
British Government have withdrawn even that force, 
and we are left without a single British soldier to de- 
fend us. Our public debt is incurred very largely in 
connection Avith the construction of public works, such 
as piers and harbours and such other works of public 
utility. We have now, for the purposes of the magnifi- 
cent fleet of steamers coming to the Isle of Man and 
for the use of our home fishing fleet, some of the 
finest harbours and piers in the British Islands. So 
the money is not wasted. 

The highways of the isle are in an excellent state. 
There are no finer roads, I venture to say, in the British 
Isles for cyclists and tourists than are to be found in 
the Isle of Man. The highways are maintained by a 
rate on land, by public-house licence fees, by a dog tax, 
a Avheul tax, &c. 

Of course the poor we always have with us. I 
think I may, however, without any imdue vanity, point 
to the Isle of Man as an example in regard to the 
mamtenancc of the poor. Oidy a few years ago we 
passed a bill through our insular Legislature granting 
permissive option to towns and localities to levy a rate 



1 6 GENERAL 

in aid for the maintenance of the poor. That was 
some seven or eight years since ; but from that day to 
this only three localities have adopted the Act. With 
those exceptions the whole cost of the maintenance of 
our Manx poor is borne by voluntary contributions, and 
by legacies left from time to time by charitable Manx- 
men. There is no portion of the British Isles where 
the poor are so much regarded and cared for as they 
are in the Kingdom of Man, owing to the generous 
sympathies of the Manx people. I am sorry to say 
that in the island the percentage of lunatics is rather 
high, and, if you consider this matter, you will find good 
reason for it. I dare say that in isolated spots and in 
small islands there is more intermarriage than in larger 
communities. I do not say that this is common to- 
day, but in the days gone by it was somewhat too 
common for blood relations to intermarry; and I am 
afraid this has had something to do with, perhaps, a 
little excess in the number of lunatics. There is a 
lunatic asylum rate, and these unfortunate brethren 
are well cared for. 

The population of the Isle of Man in 1891 was 
53,608. There were 26,329 males, and 29,279 
females. The births in 1894 numbered 1336, and the 
deaths for the same year were 1091. The marriages 
in 1894 were 411. The Isle of Man is remarkable 
for one particular feature, and were it not for this the 
island population would grow enormously. We have 
sent more emigrants to the British Colonies and to the 

o 

United States of America than any other spot of equal 
area, with the possible exception of Ireland. In one 
city in the United States which I recently visited 
there were 5000 people of our race who, on the testi- 
mony of Americans, make, with the Germans, tlie finest 
American citizens. But this constant emigration of the 
very best of our young people of both sexes drains and 
keeps our p()])ulatioii (]i)\vn. 



ISLE OF MAN 17 

With regard to land we have a custom, 1 suppose, 
somewhat distmct from yours. In the old times, under 
the reign of the Stanleys and Atholls, all the land of 
the island belonged to the Lord of the Isle. He 
allowed his tenants to attach mountain and bog, and 
place them under cidtivation, as in Ireland, for so 
many years. But as the years rolled on, and the land 
became valuable, and the nominal rent paid by the 
tenant for possession became insignificant by com- 
parison, the tenants started an agitation in favour of 
some settlement of the land ; and after a great deal of 
disturbance, protracted for a number of years, an Act 
was passed called the Act of Settlement, by which all 
the tenants then in jjossession of the lord's land were 
to become the customary tenants — really and truly 
the owners. A farm of one hundred acres, at one 
time bog and moorland, would be let say at twenty 
shillings a year. Of course twenty shillings then was 
different to twenty shillings now. But that land came 
down from father to son many times, and to-day the 
tenure upon which it is held is this : one has to 
perform certain specified duties as a citizen — various 
obligations of a merely traditional kind are laid upon 
the holders of the land — and the lord's rent is still 
paid. Thus the Manxmen became owners of their 
farms ; and the lawyers tell us there is no safer or 
better tenure than that on which the Manx proprietor 
holds his land. With regard to the quality of the 
land, I do not know that it is remarkably rich, but I 
say this — having seen many parts of the British 
Islands — I do not think there are to be found anywhere 
a more hard-working class of farmers than are to be 
found in our country. It is not because the land is 
rich, but bacause of the economy, skill, and labour 
with which the Manx farmer cultivates his land, 
crops are produced which compare very favourably 
with those on this side. Manx farmers as a 
V B 



1 8 GENERAL 

class rank amongst the most prosperous of agri- 
culturists. 

With regard to our fishing — a most important 
industry — allow me to give you a few statistics. From 
the port of Peel and Port St. Mary there go forth in 
the season some hundreds of fishing-boats. In the 
early spring many of the boats go mackerel fishing, 
as far as Kinsale in the extreme south-west of Ireland. 
As the summer advances they fish herring nearer 
home. In 1895 the number of boats was 365, with 
a tonnage of 6382. These boats carried 1820 men 
and 273 boys, and would bring a large sum of money 
into the island. But I regret exceedingly that during 
the last few years this industry has been under a 
cloud, and has fallen off very considerably in con- 
sequence of the migration of the fish to other grounds. 
This, we hope, may soon change, and the fish return 
to their old haunts. 

As to the mining industry, though we are a 
small country we can show creditable results. In 
1 89 1 the mining products were valued at i^ 112,630, 
viz.: lead, £y 1,864; zinc, ^17,230; and silver, 
-^23,536. In 1894, this industry having declined, 
the total value was ;^64,2 52. There are three Manx 
banks. One of them pays 25 per cent., another 16 
per cent., and the third, and youngest, 6 per cent. 
They have large reserves, and the total amount on 
deposit is now nearly ;^ 1,5 00,000 sterling. 2^ to 3 
per cent, is allowed by the banks for money on deposit. 
We have about forty-three miles of single line rail- 
ways in the island, the greater part of which pays 
exceedingly well ; but one section is unfortunate. We 
have fourteen miles of double tramways, with the 
electric overhead system. The electric as well as the 
horse trams pay remarkably well. There is an electric 
railway to the top of Snacfell — the highest mountain, 
with an elevation of 2000 feet — and this is the first 



ISLE OF MAN 19 

successful electric railway to the top of any mountain 
in the British Isles. The gradient is one in twelve. 
There is a special arrangement for descending — a 
centre rail with a grippcr upon it. We do not go up 
straight, as you may suppose, but simply make a 
circuit of the mountain, and, looking out of one of 
the windows, the whole island is brought into view ; 
and on a clear day, as you reach the top, England, 
Wales, Scotland and Ireland can be seen in one glance 
— the only spot in the British Isles where an equally 
extensive view can be obtained. Some years ago while 
I was seated in the smoke-room of a London hotel I 
got into conversation with an intelligent gentleman, and 
ultimately it came out that I lived in the Isle of 
Man. He put on his glasses and looked with a 
somewhat astonishing and critical gaze at me. He 
said : " Isle of Man ! what a remarkable thino-. I re- 
member one time passing that island, but it was in the 
night, and I heard some one say we were passing by the 
Point of Ayre lighthouse. I say, what do you do in the 
Isle of Man ; — go fishing and keep sheep ? " Go fish- 
ing and keep sheep ! He evidently thought Ave were 
a semi-barbarous people. " But would you be sur- 
prised to learn that we have a fleet of eleven steamers 
running daily to the Isle of Man from British ports, 
and that the number of benighted Englishmen who 
come to us every year is now considerably over 
300,000. They come to us to spend their holiday." 
And his jaw dropped. Keep sheep ! I venture to 
tell this audience that we have the finest fleet of 
coasting steamers in the British Isles. The best of 
them are paddle steamers, and if any of you gentlemen 
have given yourselves the pleasure of visiting the Isle of 
Man by the Prince of Wales or the Queen Victoria, 
you have travelled on the fastest passenger steamers 
afloat. Their capacity is from 1600 to 1700 passen- 
gers, and at the present moment there is now being 



2 GENEKAL 

completed in Fairfield Co.'s shipbuilding yard in Glasgow 
a steamer that will beat any paddle steamer in the world 
— any passenger steamer — with a capacity for carrying 
2000 people. She will be completed within the next 
few weeks. When you come over to see us, as I am 
sure you will all do after this, you will have a most 
enjoyable passage on one of the fastest steamers in 
the world. The capital of this steamboat company is 
;^400,ooo sterling, and 3^ou can cross from Liverpool 
to the Isle of Man twice a daj' during the summer 
season, the average length of the journey being about 
three and a half hours. There are boats running 
daily from Fleetwood and Barrow, and we have also 
a connection with Dublin and Glasgow and other 
ports. In 1895 the number of passengers carried 
was 332,914, and last year this number was largely 
increased. 

Now there can be no question whatever that the 
peculiar feature of the island to-day is that it is a 
great health and pleasure resort for the people of 
Lancashire and Yorkshire and of the midland coun- 
ties ; but efforts are being made to inform the people 
of this village (London) of the attractions of the Isle 
of Man, We have opened an ofiice in London for this 
purpose. The island is unquestionably one of the 
healthiest spots in the world. It is warmer in winter 
and cooler in summer than most pleasure resorts. 
Leaving a city like London and crossing to the Isle 
of Man, you Avill be struck during the summer with 
the marvellous change experienced in passing from the 
hot, suffocating conditions of a big, crowded city to the 
purest and most refreshing atmosphere imaginable. 

There are four towns in the island : Douglas, with 
a resident population of 20,000, increased during the 
season by 25,000 visitors; Ramsey, with a ]X)pulation 
of 5000; Peel, 3500; Castletown, 2000, Then there 
are smaller places — Laxey, Port St. Mary, and Port 



ISLE OF MAN 21 

Erin. Then the country itself is fairly populated by 
imlustrious farmers and others. With regard to the 
cost of living. On the whole rents are about one- 
third of what they are in the suburbs of London 
or of any great English city. In Douglas, of course, 
with a frontage to the sea the rents are con- 
siderably advanced, but, generally speaking, retired 
business men who come to the island to settle — and 
there are many who come to spend their declining 
years in the Isle of Man — retired business men who 
seek villas and smaller houses with gardens find that 
the rents are remarkably low. There is an impression 
abroad that the island is only the resort of the rough 
and rowdy element. I want to deny this. I am one 
of those who believe that the workin"" man has as 
nuich right to have his holiflay as a prince. And if 
the tired and wearied sons of labour in Lancashire 
and Yorkshire find in the Isle of Man — as they do 
find — the health and invigorating pleasure they need, 
by all means let them come. While there they con- 
duct themselves in a respectable and orderly manner. 
Drunkenness amongst our visitors is rarely seen in 
the island. A few years ago a small, noisy element 
was to be seen on the island ; the stern hand of the- 
police soon put an end to this, and to-day the vast 
body of working men and women who come to the 
Isle of Man to spend their summer holiday, are as 
respectable and well-conducted as can be found any- 
where in the British Islands. And it is surprising 
what effect the island atmosphere has upon them. It 
is marvellous to see how much energy and enthusiasm 
a Lancashire or Yorkshire worker can get up on a 
glass of ale. But it is not the glass of ale that creates 
their good spirits. The atmosphere, the freedom and 
glorious surroundings they simultaneously enjoy, com- 
bine to produce that exhilaration of spirits Avhich is 
so marked. The visitor becomes intoxicated with the 



2 2 GENERAL 

freedom and pleasure and pure mountain air he enjoys. 
Let any one who toils for eleven and a half months in 
the year in mill, factory, shop, or office come to our 
beautiful island and ride or roam over our mountains 
and through the wooded glens, and it is marvellous 
how he or she will appreciate and enjoy the change. 
Occasionally you will see some sober-minded shop- 
keeper or merchant, who seldom laughs at home, some 
sober-minded head of a family gaily wending his way 
over our mountains with a great fern leaf, two feet 
long, in his hat, and a wild flower about the size of a 
cabbage in his coat. All this is simply the natural 
effect of the flow of animal sphits in a man freed 
from that groove in which he is for the most of his 
time cribbed, cabined and confined, and for the nonce 
revelling in a pure atmosphere and amid delightful 
surroundings. For boating, fishing, cycling, every 
facility is afforded. All our mountains are free ; you 
can go where you like so long as you don't break 
down the fences. If you belong to the class who 
desire to take their holiday quietly, and do not care to 
be mixed up with the hurly-burly of the multitude 
that visit Man in July or August, then I would advise 
you to come in May, June, or September, Avhen you 
will find the isle quiet and only the select visitors 
present. Then you can have the quiet and retirement 
you wish — in fact you can practically have the whole 
place to yourselves. 

As I told you, wc have the State Church in our 
isle. We have a Bishop with a nominal salary of 
;6^2000 a year. Actually it is not more than about 
£1600. The vicars and curates, I am sorry to say, 
arc very much underpaid. The Manx people are ex- 
ceedingly hospitable. I don't care who you may be, 
but should you be touring in tlio island and over- 
come by the heat, you have only to enter a Manxman's 
farm-house to receive a cordial welcome and hearty 



ISLE OF MAN 23 

hospitality. And the same in the case of the labourer's 
cottage. If you ask for water you will get milk, and 
also some native griddle cake probably. Among the 
richer class of farmers their hospitality is proverbial. 
The farmers are mostly in comfortable circumstances. 
There is very little poverty in the island, and although 
there is not much great wealth, there is that general 
averacfc condition of comfort which we think is most 
desirable. 

The agricultural depression which has so seriously 
affected Great Britain and Ireland, though it has been 
felt in the Isle of Man somewhat, has not had the 
same results. The Manx farmer has adapted himself 
to the new circumstances, and the enormous number 
of visitors to the island have created for him a market 
for the dairy-farm products to which he has turned his 
attention. Manx lamb is a delicacy you can enjoy if 
you come in the early part of the year, and there is no 
such lamb anywhere else. 

With regard to politics the Manx people are, as a 
rule, rather behind the age. It was not until 1866 
that the franchise was granted to the Manx people. 
Prior to this for many centuries the House of Keys 
existed, but up to 1 866 they were a self-elected body. 
When one of then number died or retired the re- 
mainder chose his successor. In 1866 the franchise 
was granted to the Manx people ; it has been extended 
since, and now, of course, the members of the House 
of Keys are elected by the votes of the people. The 
fact that before 1866 they had little political experi- 
ence or knowledge has kept the Manx people back 
from taking that intensely interested part in politics 
which, I am told, you take on this side of the water. 
But we are rapidly coming to the front. A reforming 
spirit is abroad, a desire to take a deeper interest in 
our own affairs is manifest on every hand, and there is 
no question that the younger people now growing up 



24 GENERAL 

are becoming very active and intelligent politicians. 
The language of the island is Gaelic. But this is 
rapidly dying out. The children are not taught it. 
But if you come to the island now you may yet hear a 
man preach and pray in Manx. I do not know that I 
have ever heard anything which sounds so eloquent or 
forcible as to hear a Manx fisherman, rugged, stern, 
with massive features, broad shoulders, and grisly 
beard, pour forth his soul in prayer. It is marvellous 
the effect produced by his utterances. The Manx 
people are yet to some extent a superstitious people.. 
The insularity of the lives of the people for so many 
centuries led to the growth of superstition and a belief 
in ghosts, bogaanes, fairies and witches. Belief of this 
kind was common in my young days, but it is now 
dying out. One cannot go into any parish or district 
but one hears some dreadful blood-curdling stories 
peculiar to the locality. You may laugh, but if these 
stories are told you on some dark winter's night as you 
nestle to the fire and hear the wind howling without 
and in the chimney, and then it is when you leave 
you have to traverse a road in the darkness, with a 
ridge on one side and old ivy-covered buildings on 
the other, and as you go groping along you hear the 
whistling of the wind in the bare trees and see a danc- 
ing light in the bog, and when further you have to pass 
through a churchyard — I tell you, you would not laugh 
then. All these things to our old folk were real. I 
have met many of these old people — God bless them ! — 
and they would say, " Oh, don't go down that road at 
night on any account. There is a fairy there." I 
have been told how Avhcn the old folks have gone to 
bed, first leaving the door on the latch — as the custom 
is in the country — they have heard the fairies enter 
the kitchen and knock the pipe left for them on the 
kitchen table. They knocked it if there was not 
enough tobacco in the bowl to suit them. And the 



ISLE OF MAN 25 

old people would point out to mo as a boy the circles 
on the grass where the fairies had been dancing in 
glee during the night. I was told of a woman 
being followed for half a mile on a country road 
because she had forgotten to sprinkle with salt the 
mutton she was convoying lioine. On the ist of 
May every year when the hills are glorious Avith gorsc, 
bonfires were lighted to burn the witches. May- 
flowers are strewn carefully across the threshold to 
keep the wicked fairies from coming into the houses. 
Some of these old customs are dying out, yet others 
survive, and I am glad they linger, for they are enter- 
taining, and, as matters go, we can ill aftbrd to lose them. 
Although there is a certain amount of ignorance and 
romance in connection with some of these old tales 
and old customs, we like to hear the story and witness 
the performance. Among the old customs of the isle 
which yet survive are " hunt- the- wren " and " op-tu-naa," 
in connection Avith which the boys go round and sing. 
This they formerly did for the love of the thing, but now 
money is their object. There is one beautiful custom 
with the fishing fleet of some 250 boats, perhaps with a 
venerable Manxman as their admiral. As the sun set 
low in the west and the vessels were rounding the 
ancient castle of Peel, the admiral would raise his eyes 
to the setting sun and pray for a blessing on the 
night's venture ; and it was not until that prayer was 
uttered and over that any one ventured to cast his net 
into the deep. A large number of the Manx are Non- 
conformists, mostly Wesley an and Primitive Methodists. 
There are over 300 local or lay preachers. The effect 
of this upon the Manx character is someAvhat marked. 
I do not know any spot of its size where so many men 
are able to take part in public meetings as in the Isle 
of Man, If a political or local question has to be dis- 
cussed you Avill always get a number of men trained as 
speakers capable of expressing an opinion upon it. 



26 GENERAL 

One anecdote of a fine old lay preacher I may tell 
you. Speaking of Samson slaying so many with the 
jawbone of an ass, he said, "An ass's jawbone was too 
short a weapon for such deadly work, and that the 
Scripture really meant that Samson picked up an ass 
somewhere and took it by the hind legs, killed his foes, 
and so made a very wide circle and kept off his 
enemies." Now I think I have detained you long 
enough. I hope you will come and see the Isle of 
Man for your pleasure and profit. We have many 
ancient and beautiful remains in which the anti- 
quarian will feel a delight, as well as charming scenery 
and beauties of nature, which are a source of joy to 
the many thousand visitors who yearly visit our shores. 



THE CIIANNh:!. ISLANDS 

By PERCY EDWARD AMY, F.R.G.S., &c. 
(Author of "Sunny Jersei/," "Beautiful Jersey," d;c.) 

Introductory — General. 

Geographically French, yet constitutionally English, 
the Channel Islands claim special interest as the last 
relics of the ancient Dukedom of Normandy now 
appertaining to England. 

They have been described as follows : ( i ) A nor- 
thern group, including Alderne}'^, Burhou, and the 
Casquets, together with several rocky ledges; (2) a 
north-central group, including Guernsey, Herm, Jethou, 
Sark, and a singular complication of rocks and islets ; 
(3) a south-central group, including Jersey, three 
groups of shoals and rocky islands connecting the 
north of Jersey with France, and some others, running 
out from the north - east of Jersey, also towards 
France ; (4) a southern group, including the Min- 
quiers, the Chausey Islands, and some outlying rocks 
to the far west. 

The same authority aptly added : " Few parts of 
the world present, in so small a space, so much variety 
as is the case with this archipelago ; and few groups of 
islands are so remarkable for then* great political and 
historical interest, combined with singular natural 
beauty." 

Briefly stated, Jersey contains some 39,580 Eng- 
lish acres, or about 62 square statute miles (of which 

about 25,000 acres are under cultivation), and it 

27 



2 8 GENERAL 

declines to tlie south, the highest ground being at 
" Les Platons," on the northern side, 485 feet above 
the sea-level. About 12 statute miles in length, 
from east to Avest, it is in some parts about half 
that width. 

Guernsey is triangular in shape, the hypotenuse 
bearing nearly south-west and north-east, and measur- 
ing about gh statute miles in length, while from south 
to north (east side) it is about 6h miles in length, and 
from east to west (south) some 7 miles. Its total area, 
land and rock, at low water, is over 24 square miles, 
or 15,560 English acres, of which two-thirds are under 
cultivation. Its highest part is at " Haut-nez," above 
Icart Point, being 349 (or, some say, 363) feet above 
mean tide. 

Alderney — which, as a military position, has been 
described as " the Ehrenbreitstein of the Enoflish 
Channel " — is oblong, or long oval, in form ; its length 
from north-east to south-west being about 3 J miles, 
and its width about one mile, much being flat table- 
land, more or less cultivated. 

Sark consists of Great Sark and Little Sark, con- 
nected by a natural causeway at an elevation of nearly 
300 feet above the sea; Great Sark being rather over 
two miles in length (north to south), and Little Sark 
somewhat less than a mile. 

Hcrm is an irregular oval, measuring li miles 
from south to north and half as much across. Jethou 
is about half a mile in diameter; Brechou, 1200 yards 
in length (cast to west), and 250 yards wide; while 
there are smaller islets. 

As to the geology of the group it has well been 
written : "In no part of Europe, and in no group of 
islands readily accessible, are the physical geography 
and geology more closely related than in the Channel 
Islands." The rocks consist of many varieties of 
syenite, cherts and hornstoncs, quartzoso conglomerates, 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 29 

clay-stonos, porphyry and diorite : and many show 
truly remarkable contortions of the strata. 

The testimony quoted above, coming from such 
an undoubted authority as Pere C. Noury, S.J., is 
a convincing proof in itself, and personal observation 
more than confirms its justice. 

This is not the place to dilate on the scenic charms 
of these Nature-favoured isles ; nor to do more than 
mention their exceptional climatic advantages, which 
have led to such an extraordinary development of the 
growing industry — Jersey's early potatoes and Guern- 
sey's tomatoes being far-famed. Only recently, indeed 
(May 30, 1 901), the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
replying to a memorial from the Chambers of Com- 
merce of Jersey and Guernsey anent the coal duty, 
wrote that " their climate gives the industry said to 
be chiefl}^ aftected by the coal duty a practical mono- 
pol}^ of early produce in the English market." 

The growing of early potatoes is the main in- 
dustry in Jersey, and some 8000 acres are annually 
devoted to that crop. As H. Rider Haggard recently 
put it : " As Guernsey lives and prospers upon fruits, 
daffodils, and arums, so Jersey grows rich upon the 
potato." 

As regards the export trade of the Channel Islands, 
it has been summarised as consisting of " Granite, for 
paving purposes ; fruit and vegetables ; fish and crus- 
taceans ; cows and heifers." The stone is chiefiy from 
St. Sampson, Guernsey ; early potatoes mainly from 
Jersey, tomatoes grown under glass from Guernsey, 
grapes and pears from both islands. 

Climatically, Jersey and Guernsey run one another 
close in the matter of sunshine, though for several 
years past the former isle has maintained its reputa- 
tion as the " Sunniest spot in the United Kingdom." 
Its record for 1900 was thus 2003.2 hours, Guern- 
sey following with 1965.9 hours, the next stations in 



30 GENERAL 

the South of England being Falmouth (1927,5 hours) 
and Torquay (1898.6 hours). 

While the mean temperatures of Jersey and 
Guernsey are the same, it is usually warmer in the 
larger isle in spring, summer, and autumn, the climate 
being generally drier and warmer than that of 
Guernsey, which, on the other hand, is cooler in 
summer and warmer in winter ; and altogether more 
bracing — though not so nuich so as Sark and 
Alderney. Snow rarely falls, and, when it does, never 
lies on the ground for any length of time. The 
islands are famous for their long autumns, while some 
magnificent sunset effects are to be seen. 

Owing to their equability of temperature the 
islands may well claim to be all-the-year-round health 
and holiday resorts, though as yet scarcely sufficiently 
known to those seeking a wintering place with all 
home comforts and without the disconvenience of 
foreign travel. Sir Benjamin Brodie has written: "If 
you want health for the body, rest for the mind, pure 
air, and splendid scenery, all of God's gifts which go 
to make a terrestrial Paradise, I emphatically advise 
you to go to Jersey ; " while much-travelled " Dagonet " 
wrote : " To all who want a genial, bracing climate, 
and fine bold romantic scenery, and cheap, good 
living, I would say ' Try Guernsey.' " 

The flora of the Channel Islands has been esti- 
mated to consist of 1862 species; while there are no 
fewer than 190 kinds of birds (of which 90 may be 
set down as permanent residents) ; the land mammalia 
is represented by 9 genera and 14 species; but no 
venomous reptile of any sort exists in the islands. It 
has lately been estimated there arc 2360 species of 
plants and 1770 species of insects in Guernsey. One 
autliority has issued a list of 636 flowering plants, 18 
ferns, and 9 fern-allies, as comprising the indigenous 
flora of Guernsey. This is also a rich field for marine 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 31 

zoology, for in one order of the crustaceans alone we 
have no fewer than 90 of the 100 (approximately) 
species recorded as found in British waters ; there 
are 120 species of sponges and 180 of sea-slugs and 
sea- worms. 

The islands, having retained many privileges, 
provide object-lessons in self-government — as also in 
peasant proprietary — while pauperism and crime are 
practically unknown therein. They have, in fact, 
always enjoyed, subject to the paramount authority 
of the Sovereign in Council, what is really complete 
independence in matters of legislation, finance, &c. ; 
and have never been represented in the British 
Parliament. Among other jealously-guarded local 
privileges, moreover, are perfect freedom from Customs' 
duties, and all other taxation for the benefit of the 
Imperial Government. H. Rider Haggard, in his 
series of " Back to the Land " articles in the Daily 
Express (London) this year, eulogistically said : " The 
islands are a shining example of successful Home 
Rule, and yet of a loyalty so fervent that it has 
almost passed to a proverb." 

Owing to their early connection with Normandy, 
these islands, alike in language, literature, laws, and 
customs, have retained much that affords opportunity 
of interesting study to the ethnologist, philologist, the 
lawyer, and the student of history. To this day the 
quaint Norman-French is still heard in many rural 
homesteads, though everywhere being gradually dis- 
placed by " the King's English," which is generally 
understood by all. 

Both Jersey and Guernsey are, in proportion to 
their size, densely peopled, this year's census showing 
the population of Jersey to be 52,645, while that of 
Guernsey is set down at 40,300, a decrease in one case 
of almost 2000, and in the other an increase of just 
over 5000. The population of Alderney was then 



32 GENERAL 

found to be 2054; of Sark, 506; of Herm, 25; and 
of Jethou, 3, making a total for what may be styled tlie 
Guernsey group of 42,888. 

There are various routes to Jersey and Guernsey, 
but the chief of these are via Southampton (per 
London and South- Western Railway) and Weymouth 
(Great Western Railway). Both Companies run ex- 
press trains and steamshij)s in connection with the 
principal towns, the services being altogether admir- 
able. 

It would be idle to attempt within the limits of 
available space the task of describing the many pleasing 
features of the islands, however congenial that task 
might be. 

Much might be said of the larger islands, Jersej' 
and Guernsey, with their quaint historic ruins and 
venerable churches as links with the past on one hand, 
and many evidences of up-to-date modernity on the 
other. Their educational advantages, splendid facili- 
ties for sea-bathing, fine markets and public parks, 
&c., all prove how the islands and islanders have 
moved with the times ; while, as I have written else- 
where, " The town of St. Helier rightly claims attention 
as a modern, enterprising, and prosperous commercial 
centre, well paved and adequately lit, and containing 
some fine public buildings and trading establishments, 
being thus quite the reverse to the insignificant fishing 
hamlet which some seem to expect to see." St. Peter 
Port, the " capital " of Guernsey, is more Continental- 
looking in aspect, especially from the sea ; and also 
possesses many excellent features. 

Alderney claims attention perhaps princii^ally for 
its breakwater, all that exists of a proposcul naval liar- 
bour of refuge commenced in 1847, but abandoned 
after an expenditure by the British Government of over 
one and a half milHons storlin<'\ Lar<)fe sums were 
also spent in building a scries of forts to command the 



TWi: CHANNEL ISLANDS 33 

harbour iu the event oi" hostilities, but these iire 
naturally now practically useless ! 

Sark, " The Pearl set in the Silver Sea," is particu- 
larly attractive to the lover of the picturesque in 
Nature, to the artist and to the naturalist, its bijou bays, 
fantastically fashioned rocks, and natural caverns surely 
appealing to one and all, while those devoted to marine 
zoology here find much to interest them. " Mais, 
c'est magnifique," exclaimed Victor Hugo when he 
first saw Sark ; while an appreciative writer contends 
that " On the whole it may safely be said that there 
are very few islands, even though many times larger 
than Sark, that contain so much of beauty, romantic 
scenery, and interest." 

In Herm's famous shell-beach have been found 
over 40 genera with about 200 varieties — the bay 
being thus richer in species than any other place on 
the shores of the British Isles. 

There are many curious insular customs and 
peculiarities, but these the exigencies of space pre- 
clude our dealing with. We might just say that in 
Guernsey a British sovereign is worth 21s. currency, 
or 25 francs 2d.; 12 Ad. being given for a shilling. In 
Jersey is. was wortli 13d. till 1876, when this absurd 
anomaly was wisely altered. It is to be hoped 
Guernsey will soon follow suit. 

History. 

The history of the islands cannot easily be sum- 
marised, though it may well be said to be replete with 
interest. It is certain they were inhabited long years 
ago probably by Bretons, or natives of Brittan}^ while 
there are indications of their probable occupation by 
the Romans. 

Christianity was introduced into the islands in 
about the middle of the sixth century, St. Sampson, 
V c 



34 GENERAL 

the first missionary, being followed by St. Marculf, St. 
Helerius (from whom St. Holier takes its name), and 
St. Magloire. Though originally connected ecclesiasti- 
cally with Brittany, they were afterwards annexed to 
the Diocese of Coutances, and subsequently to the 
Dioceses of Salisbury (1496) and finally to Winchester 
(1568). 

The Northmen made frequent mcursions in the 
ninth century ; and in 9 1 2 Charles the Simple, who 
then ruled France, weakly ceded the Province of 
Neustria and Dukedom of Normandy to Rollo, who 
left his mark in more ways than one. 

It is sometimes semi-seriously claimed by the 
Channel islanders that they conquered England ; and 
certain it is tliey were never conquered by Avliat they 
now loyally regard as the Mother Country. The islands 
were naturally attached to the English Crown by 
the Conquest ; though on the death of the victorious 
William they lost their connection therewith, though 
again united when Henry I. became king. During 
Stephen's reign this connection ceased, they being- 
Norman again, as under Rufus ; but since the ac- 
cession of Henry II. they have been part and parcel 
of the English realm, and by treaties dated 1259 and 
1360 the French Sovereigns recognised this fact. 
King John, who as Count of Mortain was made Lord and 
Governor of the islands, lost continental Normandy to 
Philip Augustus, but the French failed to conquer insu- 
lar Normandy or the Norman Archipelago, which thus 
for ever severed the ties which had hitherto bound it 
to the Continent — -though the isles remained ecclesias- 
tically connected with Coutances till the Reformation, 
when they were transferred by Queen Elizabeth to 
the See of Winchester, though in those times many 
Huguenot refugees had there made their home. 
Jersey formally threw in its lot with the Cluu-ch of 
England in 1623, but Guernsey adhered to Presby-- 



TME CHANNEL ISLANDS 35 

tcrianism — this ux[)liiiniug how in the Civil Wars 
Jersey sided with the King whilst Guernsey declared 
for Cromwell. 

It is generally conceded that King John took keen 
interest in the islands and made careful provision for 
their good government and due defence. 

The French still coveted the islands, making un- 
successful attempts on Jersey in the reigns of Henry 
III., Edward I., and Edward II., and again in that of 
Edward III., when Castle Cornet was captured and 
Mont Orgueil Castle was besieged (1338), though with- 
out result ; as again in i 374, when it is stated Bertrand 
du Guesclin, the famous Constable of France, also 
failed to reduce that fortress, which held out till 
the English came to the relief. In 1343 an im- 
portant naval battle had, let it be said, been fought 
off Guernsey; while later on (1372) Ivan de Galles 
invaded that island, though he too failed to reduce 
Castle Cornet. 

In 1404 Jersey was once more invaded, when the 
natives sustained temporary defeat ; and in the reign 
of Henry VI. the Comte de Maulevrier successfully 
stormed Mont Orgueil, that grand, " weather-beaten, 
ivied pile " — by collusion, on dit, with the then 
Governor. From 1460 to 1466 a cvn-ious state of 
affairs existed, Maulevrier ruling one half of the 
island, while the remainder Avas bravely defended 
by Sir Philip de Carteret ; but in the following year 
Sir Rd. Harliston (Vice- Admiral of England), after a 
six months' siege, regained possession of Mont Orgueil 
for the English. It is noteworthy that the islands were 
granted the privilege of neutrality in the reign of 
Edward IV. 

Passings on to the time of the Civil Wars, much 
might be written thereon, for these were naturally 
moving times, though Jersey only played a minor part 
in the famous quarrel between Crown and Commons ; 



36 GENERAL 

thougli in 1643 the island was divided into tierce 
factions — Sir Philip de Carteret bombarding St. Helier 
from Elizabeth Castle and the Parliamentarians shel- 
ling that island-fortress from batteries raised on the 
Mont de la Ville. Captain George Carteret, Sir Philip's 
nephew, succeeded in restoring tranquillity however, 
when the King's power was everywhere recognised. 
At this time Castle Cornet in Guernsey was being 
defended for the Stuarts, practically against the people, 
by Sir Peter Osborne, to whom Carteret sent relief 
from Jersey, he having been a guest here in 1643, 
when what may be called the Guernsey rebellion 
occurred. In 1646 the Prince of Wales took up 
his residence at Elizabeth Castle — where, by the way, 
Sir Edward Hyde (Chancellor of the Exchequer) after- 
wards wrote the main portion of his " History of the 
Great Rebellion." 

Elizabeth Castle and Castle Cornet were actually 
the last fortresses to hold out for the Stuarts, 
though when Prince Charles came to Jersey danger 
was apprehended from Guernsey more than anywhere 
else. In 1649 Charles 11. and the Duke of York, 
his brother, again visited Jersey, and in October 23rd 
of that year, in Elizabeth Castle, signed the historic 
declaration assertinijf his rii^hts to the Crown of 
England, and pledging himself to avenge the death 
of his father. In 165 1 the Parliamentarians made 
a final effort, and, landing troops in Jersey, soon 
reduced St. Aubin's Fort and Mont Orgucil Castle, and 
on December 15 th Elizabeth Castle was evacuated 
— the same day, by a curious coincidence, marking the 
capitulation of Castle Cornet, the terms of the sur- 
render being, in either case, honourable to all parties. 
Though Guernsey fared fairly well during the Protec- 
torate, the Restoration was welcomed by both the 
Jersey and the Guernsey people, and Charles granted 
the former a mace '■ as a proof of his Royal affection " 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 37 

— this much prized memento being even now borne 
and phiced before the Bailiti' in the Royal Court and 
States' sittings, &c. During the whole decennium 
internal faction had, it must be said, run high in 
Guernsey. 

Coming- to the time of William III., we find the 
abolition of the privilege of neutrality ; while in 
those of George 111., two more attempts were made 
upon Jersey by the French. The first was under the 
Prince of Nassau, in 1779 ; and the second, and more 
serious one, in 178 i. On the latter occasion a body 
of French troops, under the self-styled Baron do Rulle- 
court, landed in Grouville Bay and marched upon 
St. Holier, taking the Lieutenant-Governor (Major 
Moses Corbet) a prisoner, and forcing him to sign a 
surrender. The officer in diarize of Elizabeth Castle 
declined to follow this ignoble example ; and in the 
meanwhile the regular and militia troops had been 
got together, and, with Major Frs. Peirson of the 95th, 
marched on the French in the Royal Square, then the 
Market-place, where was fought what is known as 
" The Battle of Jersey," both Peirson and Rullecourt 
being killed in the action. The death of Jersey's 
gallant hero is commemorated in a fine painting by 
Copley now hanging in the National Gallery. Corbet, 
let us just add, was tried by court-martial and sus- 
pended in his commission. 

The year 1767 was important for the islands 
commercially, particularly as regards Guernsey, where 
smuggling flourished even more than in the larger 
isle. The Guernsey States had resisted attempts 
made to introduce an English custom-house in 1709, 
1 7 17, 1720, and 1722, but in 1767 a commissioner 
was sent over and the registry regulations enforced. 
Guernsey combined smuggling and privateering during 
the American and French wars and prospered, the law 
of 1767 having become a dead letter; though in 



38 GENERAL 

1800 the Imperial Government determined to enforce 
even more stringent regulations. 

A mutiny broke out in Guernsey on 24th March 
1783, the mutineers being Irish soldiers stationed at 
Fort George ; but the outbreak was soon quelled. 

The French Revolution did not affect the islands, 
except that many refugees were there hospitably 
received. Though the islands refrained from fitting- 
out privateers when Prussia and Austria declared war 
against the Republic, matters changed when England 
joined in the struggle. 

During the last thirty years of the eighteenth 
century many forms of dissent were introduced and 
developed, John Wesley visiting the islands in 1787, 
whilst the English Independents had a chapel in 
Guernsey as early as 1796. It was when the decree 
against the French clergy was passed by the National 
Convention, in 1793, that the Abbd Coulon opened a 
Roman Catholic chapel in the Bordage (St. Peter Port). 

In the time of the Revolution, as we have already 
said, the population of both Jersey and Guernsey was 
considerably augmented ; and trade prospered exceed- 
ingly. Printing was introduced in 1784, and several 
newspapers were founded ; while new ports were built 
and communication with England became more regular, 
tAvo Post-Office packets commencing in 1794 to run 
weekly between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. 
In I 806, the foundation stone of Fort Regent (Jersey) 
was laid by Lieutenant- General George Don, then 
Lieutenant-Governor, who also commenced building 
main roads. While shipping and shipbuilding have 
much declined since the time when Jersey ranked as 
fifth port of the United Kingdom in the aggregate of 
its tonnage, agriculture has steadily improved, and 
prosperity in both islands increased materially. 

Indeed, as has been aptly written, " Since Ihc peace 
of 1 8 1 4, the history of the Channel Islands has been 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 39 

that of a thriving and progressive population, sufii- 
ciently isolated to be free from the political storms 
which visited England, and sufficiently in contact with 
both England and France to partake of the movement 
by which the civilisation of the present century is dis- 
tinguished. . . . Wealth has increased — agriculture 
has improved — knowledge has been diffused, with the 
same results, and from the same causes, as in England." 
We have dealt mainly with Jersey and Guernsey 
in our nisum^ of the history of the Channel Islands, 
yet it might be added that during the Civil Wars the 
natives of Alderney sided with the Parliamentarians, 
and at the Restoration the island was granted by 
Kino- Charles to Edward de Carteret and others, 
being governed independently of Guernsey till 1825, 
when Major-General Le Mesurier, the last hereditary 
Governor, ceded his patent to the Crown. As to Sark, 
which originally contained a small monastic establish- 
ment, it was taken by the French in the time of 
Edward IV. and recovered by stratagem in that of 
Queen Mar}^ In that of Elizabeth (1565) it was 
granted to Holier de Carteret, who brought over forty 
families from Jersey, the manorial rights being trans- 
ferred in 1730 to the Le Pelley family, in whose hands 
the island remained for a prolonged period, passing in 
1852 to the family of the present Seigneur (W. F. 
Ceilings). 

Constitutions, Judicatures, and Laws. 

The rise and progress of the system of self-govern- 
ment enjoyed by the Channel Islands, and the position 
which these islands occupy with respect to the Crown 
of England, though subjects of considerable mystery to 
most people, are of great historical interest, offering a 
study that will repay not only the antiquarian but the 
politician. 



40 GENERAL 

Originally part of the Duchy of Normandy, as 
founded by Rollo, the Channel Islands were the special 
appanage of its Dukes. It is not easy to account for 
the fact that when the Duchy was lost by King John, 
they were retained, notwithstanding the efforts that 
the French King made to capture them. John, in- 
deed, seems to have shown a certain amount of spirit 
and energy in their defence, and rewarded the loj^alty 
of the islanders by granting them a Charter, which has 
ever since been the security for their self-government 
and for the many other privileges and immunities that 
they enjoy. This Charter exempted the islands from 
taxation without their consent ; it secured to them the 
right of importing into England all goods of island 
manufacture free of duty ; it established local judica- 
tures, their Bailiff or chief magistrate to be appointed 
by the Crown, but twelve Jurats elected by the in- 
habitants to be entrusted with jurisdiction in all 
matters civil and criminal; and, finally, it secured 
them from encroachments of English Law, by con- 
firming their own customs and laws, i.e. those which 
then obtained in Normandy. 

The original of this Charter is lost. The record we 
possess is of a much later period. It is probable that 
John's Charter merely confirmed the previously exist- 
ing state of things, for we know that elective judges or 
Jiu-ats existed in Aquitaine and other parts of France 
l)crore that period. The separation from Normandy, 
however, placed the islands in a peculiar position. 
They belonged to the Crown, but forjiied no part of 
the realm, and were not represented in the English 
Parliament. It became very necessary, therefore, to 
secure them in their new relation to the Sovereign, 
and this is very likely what John did, thereby gaining 
amongst the islanders a more popular reputation than 
lie possessed with his subjects at home. 

However this may be, it is certain that from John's 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 41 

reign downwards almost every Sovereign of EngLand 
has granted fresh Charters to the islanders, confirming 
their privileges and their right to self-government, and 
in every one of those Charters will be found reference 
to the loyalty of the Jerseymen and Giiernseymen to 
the Crown. That they have well earned these favours, 
no one who reads their history can doubt. 

Eor the purposes of government the Channel 
Islands are divided into the two Bailiwicks of Jersey 
and Guernsey, the latter including as dependencies the 
islands of Alderney, Sark, Herm, and Jethou. Both 
Bailiwicks are entirely distinct and independent of one 
another. They have separate Lieutenant-Governors, 
separate Parliaments or States, and separate Judica- 
tures. Each has gone its own way from the time of 
John to the present day ; there is no connection be- 
tween them save that of the Sovereign as representa- 
tive of the old Dukes of Normandy. Their internal 
Constitutions differ considerably, though the principles 
underlying them are of course the same. The rights 
and attributions of the various Assemblies in either 
Bailiwick vary to a great degree, and these divergencies 
are, curiously enough, not entirely the result of modern 
developments and the influence of present-day ideas of 
government, but are noticeable in the early history of 
the islands. 

Before proceeding to explain the organisation of the 
governing bodies, it will be well to examine briefly the 
position of the principal public functionaries and the 
attributes of their respective offices. 

The Lieutenant-Governor now replaces the Gover- 
nor, formerly a high officer of State. He is a General 
Officer in the Army, holds the position of Commander- 
in-chief of the forces, and exercises certain civil rights 
and duties. There is always a separate Lieutenant- 
Governor of Jersey and of Guernsey, and they usually 
hold the appointment for hvo years. 



42 GENERAL 

The Bailiff {Bailli in Jersey ; Baillif in Guernsey), 
or Chief Magistrate, is the highest civil authority in 
each BailiAvick. Appointed by the Crown, he generally 
retains office during life. He is President of the Royal 
Court and takes the opinions of the Jurats, and, when 
their opinions are equal, he has a casting vote both in 
civil and criminal matters. He is also President of 
the States or local Legislature. The Bailiff is usually 
appointed from amongst the Crown officers, who have 
in turn practised at the local Bar. 

The Jurats ( Jure- Just iciers) are twelve in number 
in each island. In Jersey they are elected by universal 
suffrage ; in Guernsey, indirectly by the ratepayers, by 
means of what may be termed an electoral college 
known as the States of Election. No special legal 
training is requisite for the candidate to the office, 
which is purely honorary. The Jurats sit in all the 
Courts and have a voice in all deliberations. They, 
moreover, are life-members of the States. The origin 
of this strange incompatibility of functions is most 
probably due to the fact that the States as legislative 
bodies had their origin in the Royal Courts, as Ave 
shall see later on. 

The Royal Courts of Jersey and Guernsey consist 
of their respective Bailiffs and the tAvelve Jurats. The 
Bailiif appoints a Lieutenant-Bailiff, usually one of the 
Jurats, to act in his absence or in case of indisposition. 
These Courts have under them certain ministerial 
officers, viz. : An Attorney-General (Procureur-Gendral), 
a Solicitor-General {Avocat-CUn^ral in Jersey ; Controle 
de la Reine in Guernsey), a High-Sheriff ( Vicomte in 
Jersey ; FHv6i in Guernsey), a Greffier or Clerk, a staff 
of Advocates and Solicitors, besides in Jersey two 
Sub-sheriffs called D4nonciateurs. These Courts are 
courts of full jurisdiction — subject to the right of 
a})pcal to the Privy Council in certain cases. 

The Rectors of the different parishes are appointed 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 43 

by the Crown, aud have seats in the States, In Jersey 
there are twelve Rectors, there being twelve parishes ; 
in Guernsey ten, for the ten parishes. One of the 
Rectors is generally appointed Dean, and each island 
has its Dean. 

Before considering the composition of the States, 
we must briefly examine the attributes of the municipal 
or parochial officers. The parish is the unit. In Jer- 
sey each parish elects for a term of three years a 
Constable (Connetahle), who represents his parish in the 
States. He is Mayor of the parish, and also chief of 
the Honorary Police. To assist him in this latter 
capacity there are elected Centeniers, Vingteniers, and 
Orders du Connetahle (Constable's Officers). 

The origin of the words Centenier and Vingtenier 
are worth noting. The Centenier was anciently ap- 
pointed to supervise a district of one hundred (cent) 
families, and was responsible for the maintenance of 
good order. Similarly the Vingtenier had under him 
twenty (vinr/t) families, being the head of the vingtaiiu'. 

Each parish has two Centeniers, except St. Holier, 
Avhere six are elected. The Centeniers are also elected 
for three 3^ears, and have full poAvers of arrest, the 
senior Centenier acting as Deputy-Mayor in the absence 
of the Constable. The Vingteniers and Constable's 
Officers are subordinate officials, with more limited 
powers. All these officials, who are honorary, together 
with other officers, such as the Churchwardens and 
the Principals, or chief ratepayers {i.e. of a certain 
qualification), form what is known as the Parish 
Assembly, or managing body. Each parish has thus 
its Assembly. 

In Guernsey the parochial system is somewhat 
different. Each parish elects two Constables (for two 
years), but they do not sit in the States. On the 
other hand, each parish also elects a council, termed 
the Douzai7ie (or dozen), originally so-called from the 



44 GENERAL 

number of representatives. The parishes, however, 
now elect representatives to a certain extent on the 
basis of population. Thus the town proper of St. 
Peter Port elects twenty Douzeniers, whilst the suburbs 
are divided into four districts, each of which elects 
twelve. In the Vale parish the Douzaine consists of 
sixteen members, and in the other country parishes 
of twelve each. The Douzenier is elected for life, 
and is the conservator of parish rights and the regu- 
lator of parochial expenditure. 

Since 1844 the Douzaines have been represented 
in the States of Deliberation by Deputies, who are 
special delegates rather than representatives. Prior 
to 1 844 the senior Constable, who still presides over 
the Douzaine, represented that body in the States. 

We are now in a position to examine the constitu- 
tion of the States. In Jersey it is as folloAvs : — 

Tlie Lieutenant-Governor ..... r 

The Bailiff- i 

The twelve Jurats of the IJoyal Coiu't . .12 

The Eectors of the twelve parishes . . .12 

The Constables of the twelve parishes . .12 

The Deputies . . . . . . -14 

52 

The Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, and the 
Viscount (or High Slieriflt) possess seats in the States, 
but not votes. The two former may speak ; the latter 
may not. The Lieutenant-Governor may take part 
in the debates, but he has no vote. The Bailiti* has 
two votes. He may vote first, and, on an equal 
division, exercises his casting vote. The fourteen 
Deputies form a modern addition to the States, being 
elected in the same manner as the Constables, for 
three years, under a Law passed in 1856. St. Holier, 
as the capital town, elects three, and the remaining 
parishes each one — a somewhat unfair representation, 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 45 

considering that St. Holier contains half the population 
of the island. 

The States of Jersey cannot be convened without 
the consent of the Lieutenant-Governor — now a mere 
matter of form; for, since 1866, they sit periodically 
twice a week from January to the middle of April. The 
Bailiff or his Lieutenant presides, and the Lieutenant- 
Governor possesses the power of veto, whilst the 
Bailiff has also the right and duty to suspend in 
certain cases the decisions of the Assembly. In 
exercising these rights of veto and dissent they 
must report their reasons for so doing to the Home 
Secretary. 

The States of Jersey pass Acts or Regulations 
which have force of law for three years, and arc re- 
newable at their expiration. When the States pass 
permanent laws they must be submitted to the 
Sovereign in Council for sanction. Much of the 
public business is transacted by means of standing 
Committees. 

The French language still remains the official 
lanuiia^e in the Legislative Assemblies of the Channel 
Islands ; but the use of English is now optional (in 
Jersey only since 8th February 1900), and this equally 
applies to the Courts of Justice, except in Jersey, 
Avhere the proceedings are still conducted in rrcn(^h. 
The Enuflish lanijuaofe, which is in <>cneral use amontjst 

000' o O 

all classes, has made vast strides of late years, and 
now that its use is permitted in the Legislatures, there 
can be little doubt but that its influence will continue 
to increase, and will ultimately dominate, becoming 
the official language. The native patois, though gradu- 
ally dying out, will nevertheless for many years to 
come continue to be spoken in the country parishes. 
The rustic population are much attached to their 
curious and venerable dialect ; but, at the same time, 
it is very difficult to find a native, even in the country 



46 GENERAL 

districts, who cannot converse with the greatest facility 
in English. 

In Guernsey the constitution of the States is 
different. It consists of two bodies, known as the 
States of Election and the States of Deliberation, the 
latter corresponding with the States of Jersey, and 
being the legislative hodj. 

The States of Election, which date from the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth century, being interposed 
between the body of the ratepayers and the adminis- 
trative body or States of Deliberation, is constituted 
as follows : — 

The Bailifr i 

The twelve Jurats of the Royal Court . . 12 

The Rectors . . . . . . .10 

The Attorney-General ..... i 

The Central Douzaine of St. Peter Port and its 

two Constables . . . . .22 

The four suburban districts of St. Peter Port . 48 
The Douzaine and Constables of the Vale parish 18 
The Douzaines and Constables of the other 

country parishes . . . . .112 



Total . .224 

The business of the States of Election is confined 
to the election of the Jurats and the Sheriff {Pr6v6t). 
It will thus be seen that the Jurats or judges are, 
contrary to the Jersey system, elected by a mixed 
assembly, partly popular; but that popular element 
passing through a medium. 

The Guernsey States of Deliberation is a much more 
important body. The year 1900 witnessed a change 
in the constitution of this Assembly. Formerly it 
consisted of only thirty-seven meiid)ers. By a law 
coming into operation on ist January 1900, the States 
of Deliberation now consists of forty-eight members, 
as follows : — 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 47 

The Bailiff (having only a casting vote) . . i 

The twelve Jurats of the Royal Court . . 12 
The Rectors . . . . . . .10 

The Attorney-General ..... i 

The Controller or Solicitor-General . . . i 
The Deputies from the J)(nizaines of St. Peter 

I'ort 6 

The Dejjuties from tlie Douzaines of the country 

paiishcs ....... 9 

Deputies elected to represent tlio whole island 9 

Total . . 48 

The object of this cliange in the Constitution, 
the most iiiiportant part of which is the addition of 
the last-named nine Deputies representative of the 
electorate of the whole island, is to increase the 
popular representation, previously very limited — the 
Jurats, Rectors, and Crown officers being life members. 

It will be noted that the Crown officers possess 
votes in the States of Guernsey, whereas in Jersey the 
Attorney-General and Solicitor-General only have the 
right to address the House. 

The States of Deliberation are convened by a 
notice, called the Billd d'£tat, issued by the Bailiff 
and circulated to each member, including the members 
of the Douzaines. The notice contains not only the 
Bills and propositions to be discussed, but official 
correspondence, to which are sometimes added general 
and even argumentative remarks by the Bailiff. As 
a matter of fact, all propositions are formally brought 
forward by the Bailift", although they may have origi- 
nated with some member or with the Royal Court. 
The propositions or Bills are submitted to the States 
as a whole for their acceptance or rejection, and no 
amendments of any great importance can be intro- 
duced. By the Billet d'Eiat, or convening notice, being 
issued beforehand, the Douzaines have an opportunity 
afforded to meet to discuss the questions submitted, 



48 GENERAL 

and then, after voting on each detail, to choose one of 
their body to act for the occasion as their deputy or 
representative, who is instructed to vote in the States 
of Dehberation according to the directions which may 
be given to him. 

A very remarkable feature in the Constitution of 
Guernsey must not be lost sight of. The Royal Court, 
consisting of the Bailift' and Jurats, still possesses its 
ancient power of enacting Ordinances at the sittings 
known as the Chief Pleas, or the opening of the Law 
terms, three times a year. These Ordinances, or Orders 
of the Court, are proposed by the Crown officers, the 
enacting power resting entirely with the Bailiff and 
the Jurats. They take effect without the sanction of 
the Crown, without even the assent of the Lieutenant- 
Governor, and without the voice or concurrence of the 
ratepayers, though the latter may be heard by counsel 
before the Court if they think any of these Orders 
may affect their interests. This extraordinary legis- 
lative power is somewhat ill-defined, but in practice is 
tolerably well understood. The Ordinances refer to 
a variety of subjects, such as law proceedings, roads, 
the levying of taxes, and the discipline and duties of 
the local Militia. 

The Royal Court of Jersey formerly possessed 
similar powers to the Court of the sister isle, but 
they were withdrawn in 1771, when a so-called code 
of laws was drawn up for the island. 

Starting from similar institutions we have thus 
been able to gather some idea of how widely the 
two principal islands have diverged. The origin of 
the States in both islands is somewhat obscure. To 
enter into an inquiry on this interesting historical 
point is beyond our province. It nuist suffice to say 
that these assemblies first appear by that name 
towards the end of the fii'tecnth century, and were 
in all probal)ility developments of Iko Royal Courts. 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 49 

In early limes ^\^e have seen IhaL these Courts possessed 
powers not merely judicial, but ministerial and ad- 
ministrative — powers still possessed by the Guernsey 
Judicature. From a very early period we find these 
Courts enacting bye-laws or ordinances for the good 
order of the islands, and it gradually became the 
custom for the Bailitt' and Jurats, when any important 
measure required to be carried, to consult the Clergy 
and the Constables, as being not only officials but the 
best educated and the most representative and in- 
fluential men of the land — a practice Avhich in 
the course of time became settled and to be con- 
sidered as a matter of right, with the result that 
the powers originally vested in the Royal Courts 
alone became undermined and were usurped by the 
States. 

In comparing the Constitutions of these two 
islands, it -will be seen that the States of Jersey 
are nearly independent, and certainly more democratic 
than those of Guernsey. The Jersey States possess 
more extensive legislative powers than those of the 
sister island, for they have long ago been freed from 
the tutelage of the Royal Court ; whereas the Guernsey 
States are still greatly influenced by the extraordinary 
legislative powers of the Royal Court, which has un- 
doubtedly proved a hindrance to the development of 
the Assembly. In the Jersey States individual jiicmbers 
may bring in Bills on any subject, and these are tabled 
and discussed in turn ; whilst, as Ave have seen, in 
Guernsey, all measures must originate with the Bailiff 
or the Court. 

The sources of the laws of the Channel Islands 
may be said to be five : — 

(i) The ancient Customary Law of Normandy, 
and Judiciary Law ; 

(2) Royal Charters ; 

(3) Orders of the Sovereign in Council; 

V D 



so GENERAL 

(4) Laws passed by the States and sanctioned by 

the Privy Council ; and 

(5) Ordinances or bye-laws passed by the States 

(or in Guernsey by the Court) but not re- 
quiring the Royal sanction. 

The ancient Customary Law of Normandy served 
as the foundation of the laws of the Channel Islands. 
By degrees an assimilation has taken place of the 
local law to that of England, as regards most of the 
modern requirements of trade and commerce. In 
respect, however, of their land laws, the tenure of 
property, and the law of inheritance or bequest, very 
little change has been effected, and to find a full ex- 
planation of those laws recourse must be had to such 
treatises as the Grand Coiistumier, and the works of 
Terrien, Basnage, and other commentators. The feudal 
laws of Normandy have left slight traces, but did not 
exercise on the Channel Islands as pronounced an 
influence as one might have expected, this probably 
being due to the fact that at the period of the separa- 
tion from Normandy most of the nobles having property 
on the mainland threw in their lot with the French, 
and their manors in the islands were confiscated by 
John. As a matter of fact, only one or two important 
manors were retained by their lords, and these retain 
to this day the privileges of primogeniture and other 
feudal rights. 

Judiciary law is law generated indirectly by the de- 
cisions of the Royal Courts, or of the Privy Council as 
the final Court of Appeal. This creation of Judiciary law 
is increased by the fact that these Courts enjoy a species 
of equitable jurisdiction in the exercise of which they 
indirectly promulgate new law by adapting existing 
rules to the changiug requirements of society. 

Of Royal Charters there are many granting rights 
and privileges to the islanders, one of the most im- 
portant being that of John already referred to, by 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 51 

which the local Courts have jurisdiction in uU cases 
arising in the islands, whether of a civil or of a 
criminal nature. 

As to Orders in Council, there is a certain obscurity. 
The Crown had, no doubt, in olden times the right to 
legislate for the islands, but prescription seems to now 
avail, and the theory generally accepted by present-day 
authorities is that the Crown may not initiate laws 
without the consent of the States. In 1852 the 
question was amply debated before the Privy Council, 
but the Lords of the Council avoided giving any direct 
decision on the point, though expressing their serious 
doubts as to whether such legislation would be con- 
sistent with the Constitutional rights of the islands. 
Acts of the British Parliament, which are intended to 
apply to the Channel Islands, are transmitted by Order 
in Council to the Royal Courts for registration. The 
theory in favour in the islands is that an Act of 
Parliament is inoperative until so transmitted ; whilst 
the theory held by the Council is set forth in every 
Order sent down. It is that the Act is directed to bo 
registered, not in order to give it validity, but tha;t the 
people may know its contents. The Courts sometimes 
suspend registration of such Acts, if it is considered 
tliat the local law or any of the privileges of the 
islands are being infringed. The precise Umits of 
the Crown's power, and the conditions under which 
it can be duly exercised, remain therefore somewhat 
undefined. 

In considering the external relations of the Channel 
Islands to the Imperial Government, and their con- 
stitutional position in the British Empire, we nuist 
remember that a wide difference exists between these 
relics of the ancient Norman Duchy and the rest of the 
empire as regards the origin of its attachment to Great 
Britain. Tlic islands are neither a colony nor a con- 
quest ; and herein is to be found the keynote of many 



52 GENERAL 

of the peculiarities of their Constitutions. It is right 
to say that • the Channel Islands are held by Great 
Britain in right of the Sovereign. An able writer has 
recently pointed out that to maintain her late Majesty 
had no status in these islands, except as Duchess of 
Normandy, was an untenable proposition, beyond the 
range of the practical present-da}' politics ; and he 
claimed that the ultimate sovereignty rests with the 
Sovereign and the Imperial Parliament. The origin of 
an institution is one thing, the reason for its con- 
tinuance another. Thus, although the Channel Islands 
became united to England as personal possessions of 
the Sovereign, yet, being so united, they must take 
their place as integral portions of the empire. This 
view is worthy of consideration. It may well be that 
the power of the present occupant of the British 
Throne does not extend as far as that of his pre- 
decessors ; for the Channel Islands Constitutions, like 
that of Great Britain, have grown and developed, and 
the position of the Crown has also undergone changes, 
as it has in Great Britain. 

What is certain is this, that if this view be correct, 
and that if theoretically an Act of the British Parlia- 
ment in which the islands are named takes effect 
immediately, it would be considered highly unconstitu- 
tional to enforce such an Act until transmitted for 
registration by the Privy Council, which, as has been 
already explained, is the usual course adopted. It can 
hardly be maintained that the British Parliament 
would have the right to legislate specially for the 
Channel Islands, seeing that they are in no Avay 
represented therein. Such a course might be legal, but 
would be eminently unconstitutional. After all, the 
exact position is probably tliis, that in all matters of 
Imperial concern the British Parliament is supreme, 
and this theory is one favoured by some of the best 
local authorities. 



TIIK CHANNEL ISLANDS 53 

The isliiniLs arc a bright and happy exaiuplo ot 
local government. Whether they be subject to the 
sovereignty of the Imperial Parliament, or whether 
they regard the Sovereign as representing the ancient 
Dukes of Normandy as their supreme head, in practice 
they enjoy almost absolute autonomy and independ- 
ence, under the special supervision of the Privy 
Council, contributing nothing to the Imperial ex- 
chequer (if we except the compulsory military service 
obtaining in the islands), and yet sharing in the 
beneficent protection afforded by the British Navy and 
Army. 

It still remains to deal with the Constitution and 
Judicatures of Alderney and Sark, both of which 
islands are dependencies of Guernsey. 

The Court of Alderney consists of a President, 
called the Judge, and of six Jurats elected by the 
people, together with an Attorney-General, a Greflfier, 
and a Sheriff. This Court has jurisdiction without 
appeal where the sum in dispute does not exceed ten 
pounds. Above that amount an appeal lies to 
Guernsey. In matters of correctional police the Court 
may sentence to one month's imprisonment, or to a 
fine not exceeding five pounds (^^5). If the case be of 
a more serious nature it must be referred to the 
Guernsey Court. The Alderney Court, like the Guern- 
sey Court, liolds Chief Pleas, and enacts thereat local 
ordinances or bye-laws. 

The States of Alderney consist of the Lieutenant- 
Governor of Guernsey, or usually, in his absence, of the 
senior officer commanding the troops, acting as Deputy- 
Governor ; the Judge, the Jurats, the officials of the 
Court, and the twelve Douzeniers, elected by the 
inhabitants, as in Guernsey. 

The Constitution of Sark is of a different nature. 
The island has no legislative body similar to the 
States in the other islands ; but possesses a Court, 



54 GENERAL 

the origin and vicissitudes of which are interesting. 
It must in the first place be explained that Sark 
was colonised from Jersey in Queen Elizabeth's reign 
by Helier de Carteret, to Avhom that Sovereign granted 
the island, then the haunt of pirates, as a fief. In 
1579 the inhabitants assembled with their Seigneur 
and founded a Constitution for the island, adopting 
the principles of that of Jersey and establishing a 
Court, to consist of a Bailiff and twelve Jurats. Sark 
being a dependency of Guernsey we find, two years 
later, the Guernsey authorities demanding by what 
right the Sark Court had been set up. After an 
inquiry the Court was abolished, but in 1583 the 
Privy Council established a Court of five Jurats, the 
senior to preside. This Court existed until 1672, 
when, during the religious troubles of that period, all 
the Jurats were displaced owing to their refusing to 
adhere to the Anglican form of worship ; but a diffi- 
culty then arose ; for it was found impossible to find 
sufficiently capable men in the island to replace them, 
and throe years later the Sei(jn(yiir, or Lord of Sark, 
was ordered to constitute a feudal Court and to 
appoint a Seneschal as judge. This is the origin of 
the present Sark Court. 

The Court has its Greffier, and a Sherifl", both 
also aj^pointed by the Seigneur, The Court is sub- 
ordinate to that of Guernsey, and has very Umited 
powers in criminal matters, but in civil the Seneschal's 
power is unrestricted. The Court holds Chief Pleas at 
Avhich all the tenants holding land from the Seigneur 
have a right to vote. This Assembly sits twice a 
year and enacts ordinances. The Seigneur must be 
present, and his consent is necessary to any enactment. 
The small islands of Hcrju and Jethou are entirely 
governed from Guernsey. 

The laws of the Channel Islands offer many 
peculiarities, which do not come within the sco23e of 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 55 

this article to notice. By far the most important for 
us to consider are those affecting the tenure of land, 
which undoubtedly have caused much of the general 
prosperity and of the widely-diffused wealth, not to 
mention the universal industry and thrift characteristic 
of the inhabitants, so remarkable in these islands. 
The Land Laws aim at the distribution and division of 
property, and, being thus opposed to its accumulation, 
have exercised a stimulating influence and have en- 
couraged the existence of a numerous proprietary. 
On the death of the owner of land, his property 
must be divided among the children in a certain pro- 
portion, and there is no power of disposing of it by 
will, if there be issue. In addition to this, the Land 
LaAvs facilitate the creation or maintenance of small 
ownerships, by a curious system under which land and 
liouses can be charged with the payment of " rentes," 
which form a permanent charge on the property, and 
are regarded as real property. Whilst the owner of 
the land pays the annual interest on these " rentes," 
he cannot be dispossessed ; on the other hand, he can 
disencumber himself of the debt by paying off at his 
discretion portions of the " rente," and that by very 
small sums. The " rente " owner has no actual estate 
in the land itself corresponding with the legal estate 
of an English mortgagee. This system of " rentes " 
has thus the advantage of offering the means of in- 
vesting small sums in the purchase of real property, 
without the inconvenience of such sums as may be 
due on the property being liable to be paid off like 
a mortgage. All property in the islands is thus a 
species of freehold, partaking of the nature of a 
perpetual lease, and its disposal under such a system 
is greatly facilitated, inasmuch as the sphere of 
competition is thereby extended, and many are enabled 
to become landowners who could not do so under a 
different order of things. Most of the freeholds in 



56 GENERAL 

the islands are more or less encumbered with these 
" rentes," but if the owner be a thrifty man, he can 
gradually reimburse them, and, instead of being liable, 
as he would be under the English law, to be turned 
out of his farm, he has afforded to him all the security 
desired and every incentive to improve his position. 

As a result of its Land Laws, we find the land of 
the Channel Islands parcelled out amongst a vast 
number of small proprietors. The largest cultivator 
in Jersey owns probably about one hundred acres ; in 
Guernsey not more than fifty. In practice, it is well 
to point out, the Law has little or no tendency to 
divide up the land into smaller properties than at 
present obtain, for the custom is generally resorted to 
of the younger children selling their shares to the 
eldest whenever land is too small for division. 

Moreover, another great advantage results from the 
system. It is obvious that the properties being of 
small extent will, as a rule, be cultivated by their 
owners. What, therefore, represents the rent is thus 
expended in improving the property and the well- 
being of its owner. 

The Ch=annel Islander thus practically combines in 
one person the three functions of landowner, capitalist, 
and labourer. It is by reason of this combination that 
there exists no opposition of interest between these 
functions. In England, and particularly in Ireland, 
we see these throe classes, viz., the landoAvner, the 
capitalist, and the tenant separated, and in a certain 
sense in opposition, for their interests are not the same. 
The results of the Land Laws of those countries are 
seen in the rm-al depopulation of England and the 
Irish agrarian difficulties. 

Property is the great natural educator. By re- 
moving all legalised hindrances to the acquisition of 
land, you pave the way for a self-respecting, thrifty, 
and enterprising population of peasant — or yeomen — 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 57 

proprietors, where you now have a class teeiiiinj,^ with 
discontent. 

The Land Laws of the Channel Islands have pro- 
duced remarkable results. Without those laws it is 
doubtful whether they would have attained the pros- 
perity they have enjoyed, and still enjoy — a prosperity 
which has permeated through every class of society, 
for nowhere Avill you find so great an absence of real 
pauperism ; and nowhere will you find so high a sense 
of citizenship, of equality and pride in ownership. It 
does not seem wrong to assume that, if these Land 
Laws have done so much to contribute to the pros- 
perity of these islands on their limited scale, a similar 
system on an Imperial scale should be fraught Avith 
beneficent results. 

The marriage laws deserve a passing notice. Mar- 
riage settlements are unknown. The widow is entitled 
to one-third of the real estate which her husband pos- 
sessed at the time of the marriage, or, at her option, on 
all the estate that her husband died possessed of. The 
husband's realty can never be freed of these liabilities, 
except by the wife's consent formally expressed in a 
deed of sale. A Avidower enjoys his deceased Avife's 
estate, if there has been issue of the marriage, and so 
long as he remains unmarried ; Avhilst in Jersey the 
wife, Avho is separated as regards property, may by Avill, 
if there be no children, bequeath the usufruct or 
enjoyment of her property to her husband after her 
death during his lifetime. 

We have stated that marriage settlements are not 
in use, but after marriage a husband and Avifc can 
obtain what is knoAvn as a separation as regards pro- 
perty by applying to the Courts. The Avife thus 
obtains full poAver over her property as if she Avere 
a feme sole. In "Jersey, marriage Avith a deceased 
Avife's sister is permissible under a recent laAv (1896), 
but this is not so in Guernsey, the Court of that 



58 GENERAL 

island having refused to entertain the question. Al- 
derney passed the Marriage with a Deceased Wife's 
Sister Bill unanimously on 2nd October 1899. 

The laws relating to the alienation of property by 
will have been extended greatly of late years, but 
the island laws on the subject of testamentary powers 
differ considerably from those of England. 

A great many Englishmen reside in these islands, 
and it is to be Avished that legislation might be intro- 
duced with the object of bringing about more uniformity 
as to testamentary power, thereby avoiding constantly 
recurring difficulties as to domicile and the conflict of 
laws, whether it be under a will or under an intestacy. 

Voting by ballot now exists in both Jersey and 
Guernsey. The system Avas adopted in the former 
island in 1891, but is of quite recent introduction in 
Guernsey. The Jersey Ballot Law is an admirable 
piece of legislation, having been drafted on all that is 
best in the English, French, and American systems. 
The Guernsey law is somewhat incomplete, and in 
certain cases, such as an election for Constable, is 
optional, i.e. the ballot is not put in operation unless 
demanded by the electors. 

Education is compulsory in Jersey, and, under a 
new law passed in 1899 and just come into operation, 
is being placed on a sound footing. The elementary 
schools are subject to the inspectorship of the English 
Education Department. Victoria College (Jersey) and 
Elizabeth College (Guernsey) are public schools of great 
promise. Their students possess considerable advan- 
tages at the Universities in the form of Scholarships and 
Exhibitions at Pembroke, Exeter, and Jesus Colleges. 

A very valuable and reliable report on the laws of 
Jersey was issued in i860 by Royal Commissioners 
a[)pointed for that purpose. The ' inquiry, which was 
conducted by the Earl of Devon, Sir John Awdry, and 
Mr. Richard Jebb, was most exhaustive, and the report 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 59 

is often cited in the Courts as of authority, whilst 
several of their recommendations have been carried 
out. Previous to this (in 1 846) another Royal Com- 
mission had sat to inquire into the Criminal Laws of 
Jersey and Guernsey. A separate report was issued 
for each island. 

The peculiar Constitutions of these islands stand 
alone. In practice, they are to a great degree oligarchies 
checked by public opinion and the Crown and Privy 
Council. We find the judges popularly elected and 
exercising legislative, as well as administrative and 
judicial functions; we find a convocation, as shown by 
the Rectors sitting ex officio in the States, largely repre- 
sented in the local Parliaments ; and furthermore, the 
municipal element has in many respects a great and 
an increasing preponderance, for we have seen that 
to the Guernsey States of Deliberation were added 
only last year nine more direct representatives of the 
people. The working of these systems of govern- 
ment may appear complex, but their complexities are 
familiar to the islanders. They may not be model 
Constitutions, but still, having stood the wear and 
tear of eight centuries, they dail}' evince, with the 
right men at the wheel, a strong tendency and a 
capability to adjust themselves to the exigencies of 
modern society. 

[The Author of the above (Mr. P. Edward Amv, 
F.R.G.S.) desires to convey his eordial acknowledgments and 
sincere ap2}reciation of invalnahle assistance rendered him, 
more particularly in the Constitutional and Judicial 
section, by Ed. Toulmin Nicolle, Esq. (Barrister-at-Law 
and Advocate of the Roycd Court of Jersey), the able Editor 
of the third edition of that standard work, Messrs. Agisted 
and Latham's " The Channel Islands " ; also Author of 
" Jersey — Descriptive and Historical " in " The Court 
Ciiide," &c.] 



GIBRALTAR 

By Sir CAVENDISH BOYLE 

In the extent of territory over which floats the flag 
of Great Britain there is perhaps no spot of higher 
historical importance, of greater strategical value, than 
the rock of Gibraltar. And the word " spot " is ad- 
visedly used. Let us look for a moment at the map 
of the world, contemplate the huge areas coloured red 
thereon, and, turning to the entrance of the Mediter- 
ranean, observe the tiny patch which notifies that 
British rule obtains, that the Queen's subjects are 
within Her Majesty's dominions the moment they set 
foot on that little " spot " in the province of Andalusia. 
To the ancients this remarkable excrescence, for it 
is nothing else, was known as Mons Calpe, otherwise 
one of the Pillars of Hercules, its fellow being Abyla, 
now Ape's Hill, which is situate on the opposite coast 
of Morocco. The modern name Gibraltar originates in 
the Moorish chieftain Tarik-Ibn-Zoynd, who landed at 
Algeciras in a.d. 7 1 i with a considerable force, and 
shortly afterwards established hhnsclf on the other 
side of the bay, fortifying the face of the hill, Gibal- 
Tarik, or the mountain of Tarik, thereafter to bear the 
world-famous name of Gibraltar, the scene of numerous 
sieiifes, the fortress-home of successive thousands of 
dufonders, the spot on which have been spent millions 
of treasure and the life-blood of many a stalwart 
soldier. But it nuist not be imagined that the Moor 
was first to realise the high importance of the position. 
Pli(jeiuoians and Carthaginians, Romans and Visigoths, 



60 



GIBRALTAR 6i 

succeeded each other in its possession ; and of these 
the men of" Carthage appear to have been the most 
active, for on the Rock they erected watch-towers, 
whence to observe the movements of the Roman 
galleys. In the year 7 1 o the Gothic power began to 
Avane, and Julian, tho disaffected governor of Ceuta, 
through his overtures to the Moorish chiefs, brought 
about the invasion by Tarik in the following April. 
For upwards of seven hundred and fifty years, although 
not continually, the Moorish power j^rcdominated on 
the Rock, the point of their first foothold in Spain, 
the scene of their final departure. Tarik built a fine 
castle on Mons Calpe, and there yet remain in the 
stone and " tapia " Avails of the Moorish castle, noAv 
used as the Civil Prison, enduring evidences of his 
work. Near Medina-Sidonia Tarik met Roderick Avith 
his army of Visigoths, and after a furious contest 
defeated him, obtaining possession of the Avhole pro- 
vince of Andalusia. Space Avould not alloAv, even if 
records could furnish, any detailed account of the 
many vicissitudes of the fortress and its inhabitants 
during the earlier centuries succeeding the first 
Moorish occupation. Under the rule of the Chief 
Taxfin, the Spanish Moors sought the aid of their 
African allies and connections, and a great fight took 
place in 1086 at Badajos bctAveen the Christian and 
Moslem forces, the latter being largely strengthenetl 
by an army sent across the Straits, Avnth the result 
that the invading conquerors soon tvu-ned against the 
Moorish residents in Spain and occupied the land. 
In 1309 Guzman the Good laid siege to and cap- 
tured the Rock of Gibraltar from the Moors, and 
Ferdinand IV. oranted a constitution to the toAvn. 

O 

In 1333 the Moors recaptured it, and in 1462 Arcos, 
Ponce de Leon, and the Duke John de Guzman of 
Medina-Sidonia finally Avrenched it from the Moslem 
poAver. From the last-mentioned date Gibraltar Avas 



62 GENERAL 

possessed and governed by the Medina-Sidonia family 
until 1502, when it was annexed by the Spanish 
Crown. In 1609 the final departure of the Moor 
from Spain took place, and, as above stated, the point 
of that departure was the Rock on which Tarik had 
landed nine centuries previously. On 24th July 
1 704, the fortress was taken from the Spanish by 
Sir George Rooke after a three days' siege, and from 
that time British supremacy has been maintained 
there, although repeated attempts were made to re- 
capture it, the first of which took place mthin the 
same year of Rooke's victory. The Treaty of Utrecht, 
171 3, ceded the fortress to Great Britain, but the 
Spaniards sought fourteen years later to recover its 
possession in the thirteenth siege, which lasted five 
months. Between that year and 1779, when the 
fourteenth or great siege commenced, many attempts 
were made by the Spanish nation to regain possession 
of the Rock ; but, in spite of plots, of treachery, and of 
diplomatic endeavour, the British flag continued to 
fly on its summit, and much was done to strengthen 
its defences and Anglicise its customs. 

From the i ith July 1779 until the 12th March 
1783 the combined forces of Spain and France be- 
leaguered the fortress, and heroic was the defence, and 
beyond praise the endurance, of General George Eliott, 
afterwards Lord Heathfield, and those who served under 
him. 

" I am honoured with His Majesty's commands to 
assure you in the strongest terms that no encourage- 
ment shall be wanting to the brave officers and soldiers 
under your command. His royal approbation of the 
past will no doubt be a powerful incentive to further 
exertions, and I have the King's authority to assure you 
that every distinguished mark of emulation and gal- 
lantry which sliall be perfonind in the course of the 
siege, by any, even of tlic lowest rank, will meet with 



GIBRALTAR 63 

auipio reward I'runi liis generous protection and favour," 
So wrote Lord Melbourne to General Eliott in July 
1782. They were great words, but not too great for 
the noble deeds, for the sturdy bravery of those for 
whom they were intendetl, of him to whom they were 
addressed. 

The besieging forces of France and Spain num- 
bered 6rooo, the garrison contained 5300, reinforced 
in 1780 by 1050, and in October 1782 by 1600 
men. A naval brigade of 900 men was also on duty 
on shore, landed from Admiral Dufifs fleet, which con- 
sisted of H.M. ships Panther, Enterprise, Childers, Gib- 
raltar, and Fortune. 

1\\ the summer of 1780 a fleet of gunboats belong- 
ing to the enemy commenced, from the 26-pounder 
guns carried by each, a persistent and harassing bom- 
bardment of the town, and this was contmued nightly 
dining the remainder of the siege. In January 1780 
Admiral Rodney, and in April 1 7 8 i Admiral Darby, 
brought relief to the garrison. On the latter occasion 
the soldiers were within measurable distance of starva- 
tion — stores had been exhausted, famine was imminent, 
and matters looked black indeed for the defenders. It 
is related that General Eliott himself lived for eight 
days during the extremity on four ounces of rice 
per day. A frantic bombardment following Admiral 
Darby's timely relief lasted for six weeks. 

The town was abandoned by the civil population, 
who sought refuge in the southern portion of the Rock, 
The result was a revelation of accumulated provisions 
and liquors which some of the merchants had hoarded, 
and this discovery naturally led to acts of plunder by 
the soldiers. 

In November 1781 a sortie of 2160 officers and 
men under General Ross was organised, and was com- 
pletely successful. This small force at night attacked 
the enemy's lines and advanced trenches on the 



64 GENERAL 

North Front, containing an army 14,000 strong and 
mounting 130 heavy guns ; destroyed works which had 
cost millions of treasure and the lives of thousands to 
erect ; spiked nearly all the mortars and cannon, and 
exploded the magazines. The British casualties were 
one officer and twenty-five men wounded and four men 
killed. The Spaniards, however, lost no time in re- 
pairing their siege lines, and these again were destroyed 
by means of red-hot shot Avhich was poured into them 
from the Rock batteries. In 1782 rewards for the best 
scheme of reducing the fortress Avere freely offered by 
the enemy, and a plan formulated by a French engineer, 
Chevalier D'Arcon, was adopted. This plan embraced 
a combined attack by sea and land. Floating batteries 
of an average of 1000 tons burden, ten in number, were 
constructed. They mounted in all 138 guns, and 
carried crews aggregating 5200 men. The land bat- 
teries mounted 240 guns, and were manned by an army 
of 40,000 rank and hie. The fleet in the bay, French 
and Spanish, consisted of forty-seven sail of the line, in 
addition to the ten batteries above mentioned, besides 
a flotilla of small vessels. Five hundred guns played 
on the Rock at one time, and from the 9th to the 1 4tli 
of April a furious bombardment was maintained ; but 
even this supreme eflbrt was of no avail, for the garrison 
held its own, and again the use of red-hot shot brought 
discomfiture on the attacking force, although but ninety- 
six guns were available for the defence. 

The defeat of the enemy was complete. All the 
floating batteries were destroyed, and many of the ships 
of the line were disabled or burnt. Two thousand men 
at least were lost, of whom i 5 00 were on the batteries. 
In Gibraltar one officer and fifteen men were killed, and 
sixty-eight rank and file wounded. The attack had 
been witnessed from the land side by thousands of 
Spanish spectators confident that the tall of the de- 
voted fortress was imminent. Their disappointnient at 



GIBRALTAR 65 

the failure of the action may well be imagined, and the 
result on the nation itself produced a feeling of con- 
sternation and dismay. In October of this year, 1782, 
Lord Howe partially relieved the garrison, landing pro- 
visions and a draft of 1600 men. A most skill'ul 
manoeuvre was this, for the English fleet failing through 
stress of weather to effect a landing at the first attempt, 
ran out to the eastern side of the Rock, then, refusinuf 
to give battle Avitli the enemy, slipped back to the 
Moorish coast and anchored off Tetuan. From this 
position Lord Howe sent two frigates and twelve trans- 
ports into the bay, and having safely landed men and 
provisions, the whole fleet retired to Cadiz, where a 
naval engagement took place, the English ships after- 
wards continuing their homeward voyage. 

The expenditure of Spain and France in blood and 
treasure during this long and I'ruitless siege was enor- 
mous. The former admitted a loss of 6000 men — it 
must have been considerably more — and the cost 
must have been nearly i 5 ,000,000 dollars. In January 
1783 the preliminaries of peace were signed, and in 
March of that year visits were exchanged between 
General Eliott and the Due de Crillon, Avho had been 
in supreme connnand of the besieging forces. The 
garrison lost in killed, wounded, sick, and discharged 
1200 all told, 205,000 rounds of shot were fired, 8000 
barrels of powder Averc consumed, and 53 pieces of 
cannon were destroyed within the fortress. General 
Eliott was honoured with a Knight-Commandership of 
the Bath, and given a pension of ^^^1500 per annum. 
Four years later he was raised to the peerage under 
the title of Baron Heathficld. 

The story of this the latest siege of Gibraltar is 
one of the brightest pages in British histor3^ The 
resistance of the defenders, almost miraculous in its 
endurance and result, exhibits an unparalleled record of 
sturdy lieroism under terrible circumstances, and against 
V E 



66 GENERAL 

odds apparently overwhelming. The duration of the 
siege, too, is a matter of wonder. As weeks grew into 
months, and months into years, there was no thought 
of yielding in the minds of the imprisoned garrison, 
but, under a continuous storm of shot and shell, works 
of magnitude were devised and completed. Short 
rations, scant water, frequent sickness were cheerfully 
endured, and superhuman eiforts were made, and were 
successful, in preserving to the British Crown the most 
valuable of Britain's military possessions. Small blame 
is it, therefore, to any British subject that he should 
dwell with pride on the record of Heathfield's heroic 
defence and the magnificent bravery of those under 
his command. 

From the termination of the siege writers are 
comparatively silent as to the work of the garrison and 
the doings of the civil population, which latter at the 
period may be roughly estimated to amount in 
number to 3000, until 1802, when Ave find that the 
Duke of Kent was appointed Governor of Gibraltar, 
with express powers to put down numerous abuses 
which had sprung up within the fortress and town. 
His Royal Highness appears to have set to work with a 
will in his endeavour to reform the condition of affairs 
and to re-establish discipline and control. Within a 
year, however, the Duke left the command, Ministers, 
yielding to the representations of the disaffected in the 
garrison and amongst the numerous retailers of liquor 
in the town, apparently ignored the good Avork of 
reform which had earned the gratitude and esteem of 
all the respectable community on the Rock under the 
short residential rule of His Royal Highness. 

In 1830 a Charter of Justice was given to the 
city of Gibraltar, and the inhabitants were granted 
civil liberty. The story of the resident population of 
the Rock, with its limited habitable area, and the re- 
qnireincnts of the force of anricd men necessary for its 



GIBRALTAR 67 

defence, the repeated attempts to control the numbers, 
increasing from the 3000 recorded by Ayala in 1724, 
and composed of Genoese, Jewish, and English settlers, 
until the present date, when the returns show some 
19,800 inhabitants, exclusive of a military and naval 
force of nearly 6000 men, would fill a bulky volume. 
In 1 79 I the principles laid down would seem to have 
gone so far as to declare that even natural-born British 
subjects could not claim the right of residence ; whilst 
in 1 8 I 2 the chief duty of the then newly established 
military police appeared to have been the control of 
the admission of foreigners and the prevention of over- 
crowding. This establishment of police was brought 
about by the epidemic fever first apj)earing in 181 o, 
which between that year and 1 8 1 4 attacked no less 
than 14,000 persons and caused the deaths of more 
than half that number. In the last-mentioned year 
the civil population numbered close on 10,000. In 
1822 licenses to marry amongst the aliens were only 
granted on condition that the newly-wedded left the 
city. Although in 1828 another epidemic decimated 
the overcrowded city, the census of 1829 showed that 
there were upwards of 12,000 persons resident therein 
on " permit." In 1 830, by order from the Home Govern- 
ment, the granting of " permits " was greatly restricted, 
the returns showing that the population had increased 
to 17,000, including 7000 who could not claim British 
origin. In 1873 an Order in Council w^as passed 
dealing with the question of the admission of aliens 
temporarily or for residential purposes, the general 
principles of this and all previous enactments on the 
subject being that the requirements of the fortress and 
the limited habitable area of Gibraltar rendered neces- 
sary exceptional measures to restrict the increase of the 
permanent population. 

During the present century the defences of Gib- 
raltar have constantly occupied attention, and modern 



68 GENERAL 

improvements in ordnance have caused frequent 
changes in its heavy armament. At the present 
time extensive works are in progress m the Bay and 
on the Rock. Moles for defence and for commercial 
purposes are under construction, as well as three 
graving docks. Electric lighting has been installed, 
and the difficult question of a sufficient water-supply 
has been taken in hand. Under a Board of Com- 
missioners the sanitary conditions of the town and 
fortress are carefully guarded, and no endeavour to 
secure the health and well-being of the military and 
civilian residents is neglected. Nor can any surprise 
be felt at all this. Apart from its strategical value 
from a purely military and naval point of view, as a 
trade centre and port of call Gibraltar is of high 
importance, a fact which none have recognised more 
fully than the law-abiding and loyal residents who 
have made their homes and Avho pursue their avoca- 
tions therein. 

How the Moor succeeded the Goth, how Spain re- 
covered her possession only to yield finally to Great 
Britain, has been briefly shown above. A few words — '■ 
surmises perhaps would be more fitting — ^as to the 
origin of the rock itself may not here be out of place. 
During the secondary period of the earth's story, mas- 
sive beds of limestone were formed beneath the ocean, 
to be uplifted by natural force, volcanic probably, acting 
from below. Around the base so formed fresh beds 
of stone collected, to be further lifted by a second 
upheaval, which may be said to have broken the rock 
in two, as is evidenced in the gulleys and ravines 
which separate the northern from the southern por- 
tion. And about this time the eastern sands nnist 
have been formed and raised into their present position 
round the little settlement now known as Catalan Bay. 
A third u])lit'ting follctwed, indenting the ridge to the 
soutli of ihc picsent signal station, and the result is 



GIBRALTAR 69 

that the outline of the Rock itself" is markedly irregular, 
giving it the appearance and earning ior it the name 
of the " Crouching Lion : " form and name alike si<aii- 
ficant of Britain's great sentinel tower of the Mediter- 
ranean. As there were upheavals, so too there must 
have been subsidences, borne out by the erosion of 
ledges and deposit of calcareous sandstone. The most 
recent upheaval it is thought may possibly have joined 
Europe once more with Africa, and this again was 
followed by another depression separating the two 
pillars, and leaving them as guardian towers over the 
Straits of the Mediterranean Sea. 

Adown the western side of the Rock is a sloping 
plain of stratified siliceous deposit, known as the Red 
Sands, and on this the town itself stands. The Genista 
caves, which Captain Brome explored in the years 
1863-68, gave a rich return of mammalian remains, 
including bones of the bear, hyaena, panther, rhino- 
ceros, ibex, hare, and rabbit. A full account of these 
valuable discoveries is given in Mr. G. Busk's " Quater- 
nary Fauna of Gibraltar," published in the Transac- 
tions of the Zoolof/ical Society of London, Part ii. vol. x., 

1877- 

Oblong in form, Gil)raltar juts into the sea, running 
nearly due north and south lengtliAvise for about three 
miles ; its greatest breadth is three-quarters of a mile ; 
in circumference it measures about seven miles, and it 
contains 1266 acres, in which are included that portion 
on the isthmus known as the North Front. 

Although Gibraltar cannot be classified in the list 
of agricultural dependencies of the Crown, at one time, 
and not many years ago, there existed three " farms " 
on the western slope of the Rock, " Ince's," " Bruce's," 
and " Porral's." These small freeholds were allotted, 
in recognition of special acts of bravery, to non-com- 
missioned otiiccrs who had survived the dangers of 
the great siege. They changed hands several times. 



70 GENERAL 

and eventually were resumed on payment by the War 
Department. But it must not be imagined that Gib- 
raltar, although a rock, is devoid of vegetation. Indeed 
it boasts of more than four hundred flowering plants 
and ferns which are indigenous, and it possesses one 
pretty flower, the Gibraltar candytuft, which is to be 
found nowhere else in Europe. Many beautiful trees 
and shrubs are to be seen growing luxuriantly in the 
well-kept gardens of the Convent, the Alameda, and 
the Mount. The aloe, the prickly pear, and the great 
scarlet geranium flourish as hedgerows, and the grounds 
of the Governor's residence and of the senior naval 
oflicers' quarters are gay in spring and early summer 
with brightness and colour. 

Foxes, badgers, rabbits, and the genet -cat share 
the hillside with the far-famed Rock monkeys (Macacus 
inuus of Linni^). The latter are undoubtedly descended 
from an ancestry brought by the hand of man from 
the Barbary coast opposite, and all legends of natural 
tunnels beneath the Straits, created for their special 
use, or of the Rock apes having survived one of the 
great depressions dividing the two coasts, must be put 
aside. Still there they are, a great and protected 
curiosity, for nowhere else in Europe are they to be 
found. The guard on the highest post, namely, the 
signal station, have strict orders to chronicle their 
movements, and to register their births and deaths 
in the several troops; and even when their mmibcrs 
have so greatly increased and their manners so depre- 
ciated as to render a little thinning out desirable, 
special warrants frojn high home authorities are re- 
quired ere an oflicial may "have it in command" to 
give the quietus to a small percentage of the family. 

The 1)right and pretty market of Gibraltar, situate 
near the Waterport gate, is well worth a visit. The 
Prince of Wales laid the foundation-stone in April 
1876, and it was finished in the following year 



GIBRALTAR 7 1 

under the supervision of the designer, the late 
Colonial Engineer, at a cost of iJ^ 10,000. Meat 
comes from Northern and Southern Spain, and from 
Morocco. The latter country also supplies large 
quantities of poultry and eggs ; and the waters of the 
Bay and of the eastern side furnish a considerable 
quantity of fish, such as red mullet, sole, turbot, 
anchovy, bonita, John dory, and ranger. The tunny 
fisheries, which formerly yielded a large revenue, and 
for which many of the watch-towers were used as 
points of observation, have dwindled into insignificance. 
Fruit, vegetables, and flowers are to be found in 
Southern abundance ; oranges, melons, figs, and mus- 
catel grapes are plentiful, and very cheap in their 
respective seasons, and the little Spanish artichoke is 
largely sold. Partridges, woodcock, snipe, and wild 
duck can also bo obtained in the autumn and winter 
months, whilst one of the sights of the Rock town is a 
Spaniard driving without efltbrt a flock of turkeys 
through the narrow streets, and offerins" them for sale 
from house to house. 

Trade, although not Avhat it Avas in former days, is 
still considerable in Gibraltar, As a coalinsf-station 
and port of call for ships entering and leaving the 
Mediterranean, the Bay is of much commercial value. 
The total tonnage of ships entered and cleared, by the 
more recent returns, is given at eiuht and three- 
quarter millions, of which over six and a half millions 
were British. Gibraltar is practically a free port. 
The tariff" is very light, and only moderate duties of 
Customs are levied on wines, spirits, beer, and tobacco, 
other articles of consumption being free. There is 
still an appreciable volume of business done with 
Morocco, and although the profits from tobacco are no 
longer as great as in past years, employment is still 
found for upwards of 450 persons in the manufacture 
of cheap cigars and cigarettes; whilst 1200 persons 



72 GENERAL 

are employed in the coaling trade, which, pending the 
construction of the new wharves, is carried on from 
hulks anchored in the Bay. 

The currency question of Gibraltar is full of com- 
plexities, and this should not cause surprise when the 
position of the town and fortress and the nature of 
the business transacted, and the nationality of many 
engaged therein, are duly considered. Payment for sup- 
plies from Spain and Morocco must be made in the coin 
of the first-named country, and these coins have been 
made and are lesfal tender, although British sfold and 
silver are taken at the daily rate of exchange. Spanish 
coins consist nominally of gold pieces of lOO, 50, 25, 
10, and 5 pesetas. The only gold of Spain, however, 
seen on the Rock are the 2 5 -peseta pieces known as 
" Doblons de Isabel," and they are not common. The 
silver coins in chculation are dollars or 5 -peseta pieces, 
and lesser denominations, such as the 2 and i peseta, 
and the 50 and 25 centime pieces. In bronze there 
are 10, 5, 2, and i centime pieces. A British penny- 
piece is taken at 10 centimes. Other forms of legal 
tender, but rarely seen, are the 2 and i escudos, value 
respectively one and a half of one hard dollar — 
dure peso. Accounts are generally kept in dollars, 
pesetas, and centimes, but calculations are also made in 
reals de vellon, which value 20 to the dollar or 4 to 
the peseta, and also in the more confusingly reals of 
plate, 1 2 of which make one dollar. The soldier and 
sailor are paid in British coin, and it has lately been 
arranged, under the administration of the present 
Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Sir Robert Bid- 
dulph, that all official salaries shall be calculated and 
drawn in the same currency. The rate of exchange 
now ruling is about 3 1.05 pesetas to the pound sterling. 
It has been very much more, a sovereign at one time, 
and not very long ago, being exchangeable for con- 
siderably nearer 50 than 40 pesetas, and the par rate 



GlimALTAR 73 

of 25 pesetas to the pound has not been lieard of lor 
many a long year. It speaks well for British credit and 
administration, as well as for the niethods adopted in 
business and banking circles, that under conditions 
often presenting considerable difficulty the course of 
finance on the Rock should run as smoothly as it does. 

The principal unofficial financial establishment is a 
branch of the Anglo-Egyptian Bank, which has amal- 
tramated with and taken over the bank founded by 
the late Jerome Saccone, whose name is still a house- 
hold word on the Rock, and whose general business 
flourishes there under the able management of his 
heirs and assigns. Many of the leading merchants, 
however, are also bankers, and visitors to the town and 
those quartered in the fortress will find every facility 
in this connection which they may require. 

The temperature on the Rock for eight months of 
the year, or even nine, from, say, October to June, 
is most pleasant, and there can be but little doubt 
that, if space permitted, it would be a favourite resort 
for crowds of Avealthy travellers who now go farther 
up the Mediterranean for their Avinter visits. In the 
remaining portion of the year considerable heat is 
experienced, and the east wind, or Levanter, brings a 
certain amount of damp discomfort, which is felt by 
beast as well as by man. Snow is unknown, although 
hail-storms occasionally occur. The mean temperature 
is about 62°, the maxinuim which has been registered 
is 92°2o' and the minimum 33°. The principal rahi- 
fall is between September and May; the average is 
about 34 inches, although great variations have oc- 
curred, as small an amount as i 5 inches having been 
recorded, whilst 79^ inches fell in 1855. For a long 
time it was thought that nuich of the surface water of 
the Rock itself found its way into caves, and remaining 
stored there, could, if properly tapped, be utilised. 
This idea, however, has so far been proved groundless, 



74 GENERAL 

for the caves, through which a tunnel lias now been 
bored from the western to the eastern side (and 
through the very heart of the rock), have been found 
to be dry— from the fact of their being bottomless. 
The extraordinary rapidity with which the water from 
an almost tropical downpour disappears is very remark- 
able, and many have been the attempts to conserve 
this gift of the clouds and thus provide a sufficiency 
for the inhabitants. As it is, the majority of houses 
are provided with large tanks — ^there are wide " catches" 
on the lower slopes of the Rock — and a certain amount 
of more or less brackish water is supplied for sanitary 
purposes from the shallow wells on the North Front. 
Large condensing engines, too, have been erected, and 
are available in time of need ; and it is now believed 
that the inconvenience and dangers of the worst of all 
famines, namely, the want of a sufficiency of water 
potable and for drainage purposes, may never again be 
felt as they have been felt at times in the past. Under 
the improved conditions and under the excellent work 
of the Board of Sanitary Commissioners the health of 
the town and garrison has greatly improved. This 
Board is composed partly of official and partly of 
civilian members, and they have under their charge 
the general management of lighting, paving, draining, 
and water-supply, as well as all matters relating to the 
housing of the inhabitants other than the military and 
naval forces on the station. The death-rate in con- 
sequence shows a very considerable improvement, 
whilst epidemic sickness is unknown. Indeed it has 
been said that in no other place in the world where 
English soldiers serve does a regiment improve so 
thoroughly and so rapidly. Rock-fever, so called, it is 
true exists — a species of enteric — but the majority of 
cases are generally traceable to want of care on the 
part of those whom it attacks, and to neglect of the 
ordinary precautions necessary when out-of-door work 



GTRR ALTAR 75 

is performed under a hot sim and ^sdlere chills are 
frequent toward nightfall. *' Sentry go " has, however, 
none of the disadvantages of an inclement climate, 
and the soldier who finds outside his purely military 
duties constant employment " on the works " is as well 
placed as in any other portion of Her Majesty's wide 
dominions. 

The sights on the Rock itself are many and full of 
interest. The upper portions of the hill are, it is true, 
closed on sound military considerations ; but in the old 
and far-famed galleries, which can be viewed under 
permit, in the Moorish castle, with its battle-worn walls 
of stone and " tapia " cement (a lost art the construc- 
tion of this latter), in the various guard-houses and 
barracks, in the Convent grounds and the beautiful 
Alameda gardens, in the several churches and gates 
of the fortress, in the lower lines of fortification, in the 
dockyard and in the moles and landing-places, in the 
bastions and casemates, in the well-furnished garrison 
library, in the commodious and picturesque dwellings 
of the leading residents, there is ample to occupy the 
attention of a visitor for many an enjoyable day, and 
food for reflection on the story of this famous strong- 
hold of our nation which commands and dominates 
the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. 

To many of the farmers and herdsmen of the 
neitrhbourhood, both in Andalusia and in Northern 
Morocco, Gibraltar under British occupancy affords a 
profitable means of livelihood. Therein they find a 
steady market and prompt payment for their produce. 
Then the constant inflow of ships of war and of com- 
merce into the Bay means an equally constant demand 
for supplies — coal, water, and fresh provisions. That 
this is fully appreciated by those who are engaged in 
the trade is shown in the goodwill which exists between 
the owners of the soil outside and the residents within 
the town and fortress. The gates of the garrison by 



76 GENERAL 

land and sea are open daily, under necessary but by 
no means irksome regulations, to all who have any 
business to transact therein ; and in turn the sur- 
rounding country is practically free to those from the 
Rock who have dealings with their Spanish or Moorish 
neighbours, or who may seek exercise and sport in the 
fair fields of Spain or the wild lands which border on 
Tangier. 

Spanish courtesy is proverbial, and the Andalusian 
countryman — farmer, innkeeper, muleteer — is no ex- 
ception to this rule. If the foreigner, be he travelling 
for a few hours or for a month in the country, will 
bear in mind that he should address those whom he 
meets as " caballeros " (gentlemen), he will find many 
rough places made smooth, many difficulties and dis- 
comforts overcome and avoided. '■ Courtesy of speech 
avails much and costs little " is a well-known saying in 
Spain, and it is a truth which should never be for- 
gotten. The Spaniard, once his sensitive nature and 
self-esteem have been conciliated, wdll be quick to 
return the compliment, and will render every assist- 
ance in his power to the visitor by whom he has been 
placed on a footing of equality. Bully him or brow- 
beat him, and failure to attain the desired end will be 
the inevitable result ; wdiereas careful civility will elicit 
that which is needed, and will secure hospitality and 
attention. " Esta su casa, seiior " (" This house is 
yours, sir ") is the form of welcome which is ever 
tendered to the visitor when once the Spaniard has 
made up his mind to receive him, but all the moral 
battering-rams in the world will fail if oftence has been 
caused by brusqucness in speech or manner. 

A shooting party from Gibraltar were, not many 
years ago, making their Avay from Algeciras to Casas 
Viejas with a team of four horses. Just beyond 
Tarifa one of the animals jibbed hopelessly. A country 
carrier came by with his long tandem of horses and 



GIBRALTAR -jy 

mules and saw their dilomina. A kindly-spokeu word 
of syiiipatliy by the Spaniard was courteously acknow- 
ledged, and then his best animal was unhitched and 
speedily harnessed into the place of the unwilling horse. 
Arrany-ements were made for the restoration of the 
carrier's property, and for picking up the exchanged 
horse at the next stage, some ten miles farther on the 
road ; a couple of cigars were offered to the carrier and 
accepted with courtly grace. No question of payment 
was raised — it Avould have been indignantly refused 
had it been proposed ; but hats were lifted on both 
sides, hopes were expressed for a successful journey 
and a heavy bag, the thanks of the party were ten- 
dered, and they went their way with the musical 
tinkle of bells and the cheery " Arre " (" get on ") of 
this kind-hearted countryman, who was withal and in 
truth one of Nature's " Caballeros," ringing in their 
ears. 

The Andalusian farmer, as a rule, raises no diffi- 
culties to those who ask to shoot over his land, and is 
willing to artbrd them accommodation in his house for 
a consideration. Although he cannot quite see the 
reason of the British love for, and method of, hunting 
the fox, and whilst hitherto all eftbrts to induce the 
Spanish officers and residents in the neighbourhood to 
join in that sport have practically failed, the farmers 
and landowners smile not unkindly at the " mad 
Ingleses," who spend their money so freely in chasing 
Avith horse and hound the animal which otherwise 
might be, and occasionally has been, rolled over with 
powder and shot. Then there is the perennial damage 
bill, a matter of consideration and moment alike to 
growers of crops and the management of the Calpe 
Hunt. 

The actual oriein of this Avell-known institution is 
somewhat obscure. In i 8 i 4, when the British garrison 
were leaving Cadiz, the members of the '' Real Isla de 



78 GENERAL 

Leon Hunting Club " offered their hounds to the 29th 
Regiment and the officers quartered at Gibraltar. But 
before this date the fox had been hunted on the Rock 
itself. Two hounds had been imported from England 
for the purpose, and on the departure of the French 
from the neighbourhood this imck was enlarged by 
further drafts from the old country, and the sport was 
systematically established, the early subscribers consti- 
tuting themselves into a club under the name of the 
Civil Hunt, with their kennels at San Roque, a few 
miles north of the Rock. The garrison was not slow 
to join the scheme, and it was probably in the above- 
mentioned year that the title of the club was changed 
to what it is to-day, namely, the Calpe Hunt. It is on 
record that during the quarantine restrictions of 18 14, 
hounds, which were still kennelled at San Roque, and 
were followed almost exclusively by officers of the 
British fleet — the garrison were hard and fast within 
the cordon of Lines — found a large grey wolf in the 
cork-woods, and, after an exciting run, killed in the 
open, Admiral Fleming, the conmiander of the British 
fleet, being in at the death. 

When the cordon was removed, hounds were brought 
into Gibraltar territory, and the kennels were estab- 
lished on the North Front. The present buildings were 
erected in 1 884, and are satisfactory and complete. In 
December 1853 quarantine again put a stop to hunt- 
ing in Spain, and the pack was allowed to visit Bar- 
bary, being conveyed across the straits to Tangier. The 
Moorish owners of the land joined con amore in the 
sport, and vied with the Englisli Minister, Mr., afterwards 
Sir, John Drummond Hay in giving a cordial recep- 
tion to the visitors. Foxes were numerous, and again 
a wolf gave an excellent iMin of over forty minutes and 
a distance of nine miles, to be lost eventually in the 
rocks of Cape Spartel. 

Many have been the vicissitudes of the Calpe Hunt : 



riTBRALTAR 79 

the sickness produced by hot summers, the consequent 
necessity of annual drafts of liounds from Enghmd, and 
the heavy drain for damages, have at times threatened 
it with extinction from lack of necessary funds. Means, 
however, have been found to prevent this calamity, for 
it would be nothing less to the pent-up garrison and 
sporting residents on the Rock, and the Hunt still 
survives. Formerly all the officers of the club were 
elected from the Imperial services. About 1893, how- 
ever, the mastership passed into the hands of Mr. Larios, 
a leading resident in Gibraltar, a proprietor of much 
land in the neighbourhood, and the head of a family of 
" all-round sportsmen." Under his generous leadership 
excellent sport is shown, and the hounds and the hunt 
are not less welcome throughout the country than they 
were in former days and under previous conditions. 
Horse-flesh is cheap in Gibraltar ; Spanish-bred ponies 
and Barbs are there in plenty, and the British subal- 
tern, even when not over-richly endowed, has little 
difficulty in getting his two days a week hunting during 
the winter months, and is able to take part in polo, 
which is played on the ground leased at Campamento 
almost daily throughout the summer. 

The birds of the Rock, transient and remainins' 
there, have been well described in Colonel Irby's 
" Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar." The osprey, 
the vulture (Egyptian), and Bonelli's eagle are amongst 
the latter, and their nests are not uncommon in the 
southern heights. Then there are always to be found 
on the hillside the Barbary partridge, as well as some 
few hoopoes, golden orioles, and the fast-flying blue- 
rock or Avild pigeon. The great bustard is occasionally 
shot on the plains betAveen San Roque and Algeciras, 
whilst quail, golden plover, wild duck in considerable 
variety, and the grey lag goose are to be had during 
their respective seasons. The cabra montesa, or ibex 
of the Sierras sloping down to Estepona and Marbella, 



8o GENERAL 

have not infrequently attracted ambitious sportsmen 
from Gibraltar. These, the wariest and most shy of all 
mountain-sheep, are hard to get near, and it has been 
said that every ibex killed by a party from the Rock 
has cost not less than ;^ioo. But those who are sound 
of limb and wind, and who can obtain permission to 
try their luck, or may be favoured with an invitation 
to shoot with the owners of the preserved country, will 
be rewarded by a most enjoyable Aveek or ten daj's 
amidst magnificent scenery, and in a climate unsur- 
passed in Southern Europe. 

On the Moorish shore the Barbary partridge {Cacca- 
bis petrosa) in the autumn, and snipe in the winter 
months, frequently yield heavy bags to those who know 
the ground, who have made friends with its owners, 
and who are not averse to hard work and rough 
living. 

But undue prominence may seem to have been 
given to the subject of sport ; and if so, the only ex- 
cuse to be oftered is the recollection of many a trip of 
bygone years taken with keen companions — some, 
alas ! have sped for aye to the unknown hunting-fields 
— ^the memory of happy days spent under conditions 
of nature to be found at best in the country-side 
environing the old Rock of Gibraltar. 

In 1892 the Bobadilla-Algeciras Railway was opened 
throughout, and by this means the Rock can be reached 
irom London in less than three days without encounter- 
ing the discomforts of steamer passage through the 
Bay of Biscay ; whilst Cordova, Malaga, and Granada 
have been brought within a journey of less than twelve 
hours from Gibraltar. 

The road, i 10 miles in length, is a wonderful piece 
of engineering skill, winding its way past brawling 
streams, aroinul rocky cliffs, and plimging at short in- 
tervals into the heart of the Andalusian hills. From 
Algeciras to I'onda tlie scenery is wild and picturesque. 



(ITBRALTAll 81 

At the last-n;unc(l place, perhaps one of the most 
romantic spots in all Southern Spain, travellers can 
break tlieir journey, and a stay of a day or two in its 
invigorating air will amply reward them. Thence to 
Bobadilla the route is less mountainous, but is still full 
of natural beauty. Shortly before Bobadilla, Teba is 
passed, the birthplace of the Empress Eugenie; and 
finally junction is made with the Andaluces railway 
system, connecting with all parts of Spain. To the 
resident on the Rock the opening of the Algeciras Rail- 
way is of inestijuable benefit. Visits to famous historic 
scenes, such as Seville, Cordova, and Granada, can be 
made with ease and at a reasonable expenditure of time 
and money. Madrid can be reached in less than 
twenty-four hours, and the homeward Ijound can, at 
moderate cost and in comfort, find their way through 
that town and through Bordeaux and Paris to English 
shores and London streets. 

In this attempt to furnish a few simple observa- 
tions on the Rock and its surroundings, recourse has 
frequently been had to the condensed history and 
elaborate notes compiled by the late Colonel G. J. Gil- 
bard, who founded the annual publication known as 
the "Gibraltar Directory." This work, from 1888 to 
1892, was edited for Mrs. Gilbard by the present writer, 
in collaboration with Mr. R. Bandury, the genial and 
popular Deputy of the Garrison Library, and in the 
last-mentioned year the book passed entirely into tlieir 
hands. Since 1894 Mr. Bandury, who then became its 
solo proprietor, has conducted its publication. Colonel 
Gilbard's history and notes were revised and partially 
rewritten between 1889 and 1893, but it would be a 
graceless act to allow the present article to go to press 
without the writer's fullest acknowledgement to his 
late coadjutor, and without a word of gratitude to the 
memory of hhn who originated the " Directory," and 
who compiled a volume replete with information, 
v F 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 

By CLAUDE LYON (of Malta) 

Open a map of tlae world and yon will see in the 
middle of the Mediterranean, between Sicily and 
Tripoli, a tiny spot no larger than a pin's head. This 
is Malta, an island which, though it looks so small 
and insignificant on the map, is really a place of very 
considerable importance, not only in the estimation 
of the islanders, bnt also in the opinion of our highest 
naval and military authorities. The Maltese islands 
may be said to form a little Avorld in themselves ; a 
Avorld in which the manners and customs of the East 
are curiously mixed up with those of the West. 

It is usual to speak of " Malta and its Dependen- 
cies " : the Dependencies consist of Gozo, Comino, 
Cominotto, and Filfala. Gozo and Comino are in- 
habited, but Cominotto and Filfala are mere rocks, 
the former lying off the west coast of Comino, and 
the latter off the south coast of Malta. 

Malta, as every one knoAvs, is the Melita of the 
Bible : it was called Melita by the Greeks, from the 
wild honey it produced, the name being derived either 
from mcli (honey) or from melita (a bee). It retained 
this name for several centuries. The modern name is 
derived from a Hebrew or Arabic Avord meaning refuge 
or asylum. It has also the poetical designation of the 
" Fior del Hondo" or " Flower of the World." 

The distance from London to Malta is, approxi- 
mately, 2280 miles by sea, and 2000 by the Con- 
tinent. The fare is about the same by both routes, 

82 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 83 

namely, £ 1 6 first class ; the sea voyage takes about a 
week, and the land journey about 4^ days. The islands 
lie about 58 miles south of Sicily, and 180 north of 
the African coast. Malta is an irregular oval in shape, 
about 18A miles long by ?>h broad, Avith an area of 
95 square miles, and a population, exclusive of the 
garrison, of i 54,000 in 1 896, or with the Dependencies, 
174,000. In 1 89 1 the total population was 165,000, 
and in 1881, 149,000. It may be interesting to com- 
pare these figures with those of former periods. When 
Napoleon took the islands a century ago the total 
population was about i i 5 ,000 ; but in the subsequent 
struggle 20,000 of the islanders perished, chiefly by 
disease, and in two years the population fell to less 
than 100,000. The islands at the present day enjoy 
the distinction of being the most densely populated 
in the world. The figures give an average of 162 i per 
square mile for Malta, and 1000 for Gozo, Belgium, 
the most densely inhabited country on the Continent, 
has only about 563. I may add that there are about 
2500 more females than males, which is probably 
OAving to the larger emigration of the latter. The 
garrison comprises about 10,000 men, including the 
Royal Malta Artillery and the newly raised Royal 
Malta Regiment, together about 1500 strong. 

Both revenue and expenditure are increasing, but 
it is satisfactory to note that whereas the expenditure 
used often to exceed the revenue, the revenue now 
usually exceeds the expenditure. In 1 88 1 the revenue 
was .^186,000, and the expenditure ;^ 188,000; in 
I 89 1 they were respectively ^^263,000 and ;!^2 70,000 ; 
and in 1896, ;i^3 13,680 and ^308,902. The public 
debt is under i^8o,ooo. There are no direct taxes ; 
the revenue is derived from import duties, port dues, 
rents of Government property, licences, stamps, &c. 
The proportion received from customs amounts to 
more than half of the whole, and the amount grew in 



84 GENERAL 

the ten years, 1881-90, from ;^ 103,000 to ^160,000, 
In 1896 it WHS i^ I 76,457. The duties on the whole 
are low, and are little felt by the people. They are 
levied on wheat (is. 3d. a bushel), flour (3s. lod. a 
cwt.), Indian corn, rice, olive oil (other oils are free), 
cattle, meat, &c., and on beer and ale, wine and spirits. 
Tobacco, both raw and manufactured, is free. As 
regards all other articles the islands enjoy absolutely 
free trade, and hence become a great distributing centre 
for the products of our factories. The value of the 
imports and exports were in 1896, ;^842,039 and 
about ;^43,ooo respectively; the former is chiefly 
made up of coal from Great Britain, and cattle and 
grain from foreign countries ; the latter of potatoes, 
fruit, and lace. The tonnage of vessels, mostly British 
steamers, entering and leaving the port was 6,584,000 
in 1896; 7,033,000 in 1895; 8,100,000 in 1891: 
the falling off is due partly to the economy in fuel 
consumption owing to improvements in marine engines, 
which enables vessels to go greater distances without 
recoaling, and partly, and as I believe chiefly, to the 
vexatious quarantine regulations so frequently imposed. 
In this respect the island is more behind the times 
than even Ital}^ Malta is an important station of the 
Eastern Telegraph Company, whose cables come in here 
from all parts of the Mediterranean. The local tele- 
graph lines have a total length of 65 miles, and the 
telephone lines of 276 miles. Mails for England and 
the Continent are made up every day, except Sunday, 
and are received and distributed every day ; also at 
frequent intervals to and from Egypt, India, &c. The 
number of letters and postcards passing annually 
through the Post Oflice is now nearly a million, and 
of newspapers 346,000. The receipts from the Post 
Office Avero £^13,200 in 1896, and the disbursements 
somewhat more ; so that it is not yet quite self- 
su[q)orting, tliough it is believed that it soon will be. 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 85 

The total deposits in the savings' banks are now ahnost 
;^ 5 00,000. Turning to the criminal statistics, the 
figures are highly satisfactory, for though there was a 
slight increase in the number of convictions in 1896 
over 1895, there was a steady decline in the figures 
each year from 1891 to 1895. 

About a third ol the total acreajje of the island 
is Government property ; of the remaining two-thirds, 
about half belongs to the Church, and the rest to 
private individuals. The revenue from Government 
lands and house property is about .;^4 1,000 per annum, 
two-thirds of which is from house property. 

There is a narrow gauge railway, eight ndles long, 
connecting Valetta with the former capital, Notabile. 
The line was constructed by a company and worked 
by them at first, but was taken over by the Govern- 
ment in 1890, and is now worked by them at a profit 
of over £ 1 000 a year. 

The government of the islands is carried on by an 
Executive and Legislative Council, called the Council 
of Government, with the Governor as ex-officio Presi- 
dent or a Vice-President. Twenty members compose the 
Council, of whom six are official and fourteen elected. 
Ten of the elected members are elected by the general 
electors, of whom there are about 1 0,000, and four by 
special electors chosen from the general electors. The 
qualification to become a special elector is an income 
of ii6o per annum, or the payment of rent to thai 
amount. The qualification to become a general elector 
is an income of £6, or a payment of a like sum in rent, 
or the age of twenty-one and the right to serve as a 
connnon juror. The four members elected by the 
special electors represent the Ecclesiastics, the Nobles, 
the University, and the Borsa or Chamber of Conunerce. 
The islands are divided into ten electoral districts, and 
one member is therefore returned for each district. 
The Council meets once a week during^ the season in 



86 GENERAL 

a room set apart for the purpose, called the Council 
Chamber, m the Governor's Palace m Valetta. The 
Council may last three years without re-election. There 
is nothing in Malta corresponding to our county council, 
no school board, and no local rates. 

Malta is inadequately provided with school accom- 
modation, and the number of inalfeheti, i.e. illiterate 
persons, though less in proportion to the total population 
than it was a few years ago, is still greater than one would 
expect to find in so important a colony. Indeed, nothing 
surprises the visitor more on his first acquaintance 
with the place than the number of inalfeheti he is 
continually coming in contact with. It is not only 
the peasants who are uneducated, but a large number 
of the servants, both men and women, boatmen, cab- 
drivers, gardeners, and artisans, and even some of the 
shopkeepers. So unsatisfactory is the present condition 
of affairs in this respect in the islands that a Select 
Conmiittee has been appointed to inquire into the 
matter, and, as the Chief Secretary says in his report, 
" It is hoped that the earnest labours of the Committee 
. . . will finally lead to a satisfactory solution of this 
vital question, in the mterest both of the present and of 
the future generations of the people of Malta." What, 
as it seems to me, is required is a complete reorgani- 
sation of the present system, the building of more 
schools, and the passing of a compulsory Education Act. 
Meanwhile the children in their thousands are left to 
run wild about the streets of the towns, a veritable 
nuisance to themselves and everybody else. The 
total expenditure on education is about ;^2i,ooo a 
year. There are 99 elementary day schools, and 
29 night schools supported by the Government. The 
University and the Lyceum are also su})ported by the 
Government; the former costs ^^^3600 a year, and is 
attended by 132 students; the latter cost £2goo, 
and is attended by 447 students. There are several 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 87 

private scholastic establishments, including a college 
conducted by Jesuit lathers. I should add that the 
education of the people is largely controlled by the 
priests. 

The Maltese are a strong, healthy, hard-working 
race, passionately attached to their island home. They 
are a very frugal people, and no matter how low their 
wages may be, or how large a family they may have to 
support, they always contrive to save something. This 
seems to have been characteristic of the people for 
many generations. When the knights took possession 
of Malta, we are told that the people were noted 
for their frugality. The food of the peasants consists 
of coarse brown bread, or pasta, a kind of macaroni, 
olives, and olive oil with a simple milk cheese, ma(^e 
in the island, and sometimes a little fish and fruit. 
On this simple fare they do well. For drink they 
have a thin coifeo in the morning, and water, or a 
little of the light Sicilian wine with their midday 
meal. They rarely eat meat, as it is too expensive ; 
but if they do, it is generally pork in some form. 
They have not the objection of other Eastern people 
to the Hesh of the pig ; on the contrary, they look 
upon it as a delicacy. The hours of labour are long, 
but the people rest for a couple of hours in the middle 
of the day, when they take the siesta, or after-dinner 
sleep. This is indulged in by all classes. The gentry 
retire to their rooms, l)ut the peasants lie down on 
the ground in the nearest shady spot and sleep soundly 
till it is time to resume work. The ambition of every 
peasant is to become the owner of a little plot of 
ground on which to build himself a cottage. This 
he often manages. Sometimes he builds his cottage 
with his own hands, assisted by his neighbours, whom 
he assists in return. The houses are all built of stone, 
which is often quarried on the spot. It is got out in 
blocks a couple of feet long, by a foot in width and 



88 GENERAL 

heiglit. It is easily cut to the required shape, and 
placed in position. The mortar is frequently only lime 
and earth — very little lime to a good deal of earth. 
The roofs are flat, and are formed of slabs of the same 
stone, supported on cheap iron girders. Before the 
introduction of the present girders, which come, I 
believe, from Belgium, wooden beams were used, and 
were much more expensive. The doors and windows 
are the work of the nearest carpenter. They are 
strongly but roughly made. The village blacksmith 
supplies the locks and hinges, which are very roughly, 
not to say badly, made. The walls are not papered, 
but colour washed. The woodwork is painted with a 
very cheap bad paint, which often does not dry for 
^vlieks. This completes the house; the furniture for 
which is of the simplest description. Nothing is pro- 
vided but what is absolutely necessary. Carpets are 
unknown ; so, too, are curtains and table linen. The 
hcUterie de cuisine consists of a few pots and pans. The 
cooking is done on a charcoal brazier ; the washing in 
any old pan or bucket. 

The dress of the peasants may be practical, but it is 
certainly not picturesque. As a rule the men do not 
wear a coat, even in the street. Their nether gar- 
ments are made of a coarse blue cotton cloth, and are 
always so patched that it is next to impossible to tell 
liow much of them represents the original garment. 
They wear neither shoes nor stockings ; but some now 
wear a kind of sandal. The women of this class are 
no bettor dr<^ssed than the men ; and they, too, go 
barefoot all the year round. Their headdress, how- 
ever, is peculiar. It consists of a kind of mantle or 
long hood, called the faldelta, and reaching to about 
the waist. It is the Sunday headdress of all classes. 

The Maltese make good servants ; they often attach 
themselves to their master and mistress, and will 
do anything for them. Those who speak English 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 89 

comiriand good wages in English households. Women 
servants will get from £t, to £4 a month, and men 
Iroiii £4. to ;^5. Out of this they have to feed and 
clothe themselves ; but it is high as wages go in Malta. 
They all have their own homes, to which they return 
when the day's work is ovei-. If, as I have said, 
the desire of the peasant is to become a houseowner, 
the desire of the servant is to become a shoj)koeper. 
To get the requisite capital he saves up the greater 
portion of his wages, and as soon as he can he makes 
a start. Once started it is not often that he does not 
succeed in making the shop pay. His favourite shop 
is a small grocery with a licence to sell drink. The 
result is, that there is an immense number of these 
drinking dens — for they are nothing else — and most 
of them do an excellent business. Their chief patrons 
are our soldiers and sailors, who thus have temptations 
to drink thrown in their way which should not be 
tolerated for a moment. We make every effort to 
keep the men sober while serving in Great Britain, 
and in places like Malta, where the evil effects of over- 
indulgence in drink are far worse than in our 
temperate climate, we leave them to the tender 
mercies of these grasping publicans. This is a matter 
that demands the immediate attention of the Imperial 
Government. 

The Maltese are believed to be descended from the 
Phuinicians, who first settled in the islands about i 500 
B.C. They have been Christians since the early days 
of Christianity. They are nearly all Roman Catholics, 
and very nuich attached to their Church. Their lan- 
guage is thought by some to be a survival of the Punic 
tongue ; but it is more probably a dialect of Arabic, 
introduced by the Saracenic invaders. At all events 
if not an Arabic dialect, it is so closely allied to Arabic 
that the people have no difficidty in conversing Avitli 
the Arabs. The purest Maltese is now spoken in Gozo 



90 GENERAL 

and the country districts of Malta. In Valetta and 
the large towns, it has been much corrupted by the 
introduction of foreign, principally Italian, words and 
phrases. Until comparatively recently it was not 
possible to write Maltese, but now the Latin characters 
have been adapted to express the various sounds of the 
Arabic characters, and books and papers are printed in 
the vernacular. The literature, however, is confined 
to school books and religious works translated from 
English or Italian. Italian is the official language, and 
it is spoken by all the upper classes. Most of them 
speak English as well. In fact our language is gaining 
ground every day, and seems destined at no distant 
date to supersede Italian. 

Geologically the Maltese islands belong to the late 
Eocene period. The rocks are coralline and calcareous 
limestone, with beds of greensand and blue clay or 
marl. As in all limestone formations there are 
numerous caves and grottos, in many of which the 
remains of various extinct animals have been found ; 
the most remarkable are the bones of two kinds of 
pigmy elephants. Of these, one, Elephas Melitensis, was 
only from 4 to 5 feet high, and the other, Elephas 
Falconera, only about 3 feet. These remains prove 
that the islands were once united to the mainland. 
They are, in fact, the most elevated parts of the ridge 
which once united Europe and Africa. This ridge is 
now easily to be traced between Sicily and Malta by 
the comparative shallowness of the water overlying it. 
The fauna and flora belong partly to Europe and 
partly to Africa. The domestic animals include all 
those with which we are familiar. The famous Maltese 
dog, however, is extinct in Malta. The goats are a 
speciality of the place, and are a source of considerable 
profit to their owners. They supply most of the milk 
consumed. The amount of milk given by a good goat 
is large, sometiincs, indeed, as much as the third of a 



TRE MALTESE ISLANDS 91 

gallon a day. The aniinals are driven into the towns 
in flocks every morning and evening, and milked at the 
customers' doors. Cattle are imported from North 
Africa and Russia, horses from Barbary. Donkeys are 
bred in the islands. They arc a small but useful 
breed, the best trotting as fast as a pony. Besides the 
above there are rabbits and weasels, hedgehogs and 
bats. Of reptiles there are lizards in considerable 
numbers, and two or three species of snakes. The 
latter are fairly numerous, but are seldom seen. 
None are poisonous. According to a Maltese legend, 
St. Paul did for Malta what St. Patrick is credited 
with having done for Ireland ; that is to say, he ex- 
pelled the venomous reptiles. The sea round the 
Malta coast is fairly well stocked with fish. The most 
esteemed fish are the John dory and the red mullet. 
Tunny, sardines, and grey mullet are common. The 
octopus is frequently caught, and is eaten by the fisher- 
folk. More than 250 species of migratory birds visit 
the islands on their way to and from the north. The 
most prized is the quail, which is shot and trapped in 
large numbers. But all birds are looked upon as 
" game " by the Maltese sportsman ; and every winged 
creature, from the hawk to the robin, from the owl to 
the linnet, is ruthlessly shot, and sold or eaten. The 
markets, during the migratory season, are a sad but 
instructive sight ; every kind of bird common to 
Europe being exposed at different times for sale on the 
stalls. Mr. A. L. Adams, in his valuable " Notes of a 
Naturalist," observes, " Nowhere are the feathered tribe 
more persecuted than in Malta," and he estimates that 
" half the migratory birds are shot or captured " on the 
islands, an estimate which I am sure is no exaggera- 
tion. Of the resident birds there are not more than 
a dozen species, the commonest being the ubiquitous 
sparrow. Canaries are bred for sale to visitors, and par- 
rots are brought over from Africa for the same purpose. 



92 GENERAL 

The flora is extensive. Nearly all our vegetables 
grow well : the fruits are those of Southern Europe, 
the most important being the orange, of which there 
are half-a-dozen varieties, the lemon, the fig, and the 
almond. Strawberries are plentiful in the spring, a 
small wild strawberry of excellent flavour ; other fruits 
are the nestholi or Japanese medlar {Eryohotrya Japonica), 
the melon, and the prickly pear. The vine is culti- 
vated, but not to the same extent as formerly. Flowers 
are abundant. Malta was famous for its roses in Roman 
times, and they are still grown in large quantities. 
The chief agricultural products are potatoes, which are 
exported in the winter and spring, corn, sulla, cummin, 
aniseed, onions, and olives. Sulla is a tall red clover 
{Hedysar'mm Coronarium), and grows luxuriantly all over 
the island. Cotton used to be grown for export, but 
the export has now ceased. Garlic is another product. 
It grows wild everywhere, and is eaten as a stomachic 
by all classes. There are no woods or forests, as there 
is not suflicient depth of soil for forest trees to grow. 
The cultivated trees are all of a Ioav growing order and 
are mostly evergreens. They are the orange, the lemon, 
the olive, the caruba, &c. The last named is the tree 
which produces the locust bean, now used for fatten- 
ing cattle. Its botanical name is Ceratonia siliqua. 
While speaking of the flora I must not omit to men- 
tion a very curious and interesting plant, said to 
be indigenous. This is the fungus Melitensis, or 
Cyno'iiioriuvi Coccinenm. It is, as the naiue implies, a 
fungus-like plant, and is chiefly found growing on a 
rocky islet off the coast of Gozo, called the General's 
Rock. It was highly prized by the knights, Avho used 
it as a styptic and a cure for dysentery, Anotlier in- 
digenous plant grows on the south clifls. It is called 
Centaurca Crassifolia. 

The soil is very fertile, though nowhere of any 
deptli. The average deplli is in fact only a few inches. 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 93 

It is really little more tluin ;i sprinkling ol soil ii[)i>ii 
the snrliice of the limestone rock ; but it is capable 
of yielding two crops a year. The farming imple- 
ments are of the most primitive kind. The plough 
is like the one that has been in use in the East 
from time immemorial. The frame is formed of a 
single curved piece of wood. Through this a spike 
is tlriven, and it is with this sjiike the soil is turned 
up, or rather furrowed. The plough can be guided 
with one hand, and draAvn by a cow or a donkey ; 
by any draught animal, indeed, that is available. 
The harrow is of equally simple construction, and 
both implements are so light that they can be car- 
ried by the farmer on his shoulder. They seem to 
answer their purpose well, and have the great advan- 
tage of being easily made and easily repaired. The 
land is divided into quite small plots by stone Avails. 
These stone walls are met with all over the islands, 
and are the most conspicuous feature in the landscape. 
They are of great importance in keeping in the soil, 
which would otherwise in many places be washed 
away. The great drawback to farming in Malta is the 
want of water. If Avater were available for irrigating 
the fields, Malta Avould probably bo the most fertile 
island in the Avorld. As it is there is neither lake nor 
stream, and though there are springs in the hills they 
only yield enough Avatcr for domestic purposes. 

The climate is delightfid in the spring. It is Avet 
and Avindy in the Avinter and hot and dusty in the 
summer. The Avintcr temperature varies from about 
45° to 60°, seldom falling below 42°. The summer 
temperature varies from about 70° to 90°, occasionally 
rising to 92° or 93°. The coldest month is generally 
January, and the Avettest November. Frost and snow 
are unknoAvn, but hail sometimes falls. There are no 
fogs, but there is a good deal of Avind. The prevalent 
Avinds are the north-cast, called the (jrcgale, and the 



94 GENERAL 

south-east, called the sirocco. The former is a cold 
wind blowing down from the Adriatic, and raising a 
heavy sea along the northern coast. It usually blows 
for three days, and is frequently accompanied by heavy 
showers of rain : it is the Euroclydon of the Bible. 
The sirocco is the prevalent wind in the Mediter- 
ranean : it is a debilitating wind, and seems to affect 
both the spirits and the temper. It, too, blows for 
three days at a time and at all seasons. Its debilitat- 
ing effects are most noticeable in September. The 
average annual rainfall is about 20"; but too often 
the amount registered is very much less, which means, 
of course, a short supply in summer. Provision is 
made for storing the winter rainfall to supplement the 
supply from the springs. In many parts of the island 
this rain-water is all the inhabitants have to depend 
upon. On the whole Malta is a healthy place, though 
there is a kind of malarial fever, called " Malta Fever," 
which is rather prevalent. The death-rate is not high 
(last year 28 per 1000), and it would be low were it 
not for the very high rate of infant mortality. In 
point of cleanliness, Valetta compares very favourably 
with the winter resorts of France and Italy, and the 
city itself is well drained. The climate is beneficial to 
sufferers from insomnia and nervous complaints. 

Valetta is situated in N. lat. 35° 44' and E. long. 
14° 31'. It has been described as a city "built by 
gentlemen for gentlemen." It occupies the whole of 
the rocky ridge called Mount Sceberras, which separates 
the Grand Harbour on the east from the Quarantine 
Harbour on the west. The ridge itself rises to a 
height of over 100 feet above the sea, and has been 
likened to an elephant's body. The main street, Strada 
Kealo, runs along the crest of the ridge in a straight 
line in a north and south direction, and forms, as it 
were, the backbone of the elephant, while the side 
streets which run down both sides of the ridge to the 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 95 

two harbours are the ribs. The chief buildings aic the 
Governor's Pahice, foriiierly the residence of the Grand 
Masters, St. John's Cathedral, the Auberge de Castile, 
and the Opera House. St. John's, the work of a 
Maltese architect, Girolamo Cussar, is noted for its 
beautiful inlaid pavement of coloured marbles ; before 
the French robbed it of its most valuable treasures 
it was accounted the richest church in Christendom. 
The knights had their clubs, or auherges, one for each 
nation. The Auberge de Castile, the resort of the 
Castilian knights, was the largest and finest ; the Auberge 
d'Angletcrrc was the poorest, and has been pulled down. 
The Opera House is a modern building. Valetta is 
supplied with water from springs in the centre of the 
island by aqueducts and tunnels, forming a conduit 
eight miles long, constructed by Grand Master Vigna- 
court. Mount Sceberras is cut off from the rest of the 
island by a ditch 90 feet deep, which extends almost 
from harbour to harbour. This ditch is crossed by 
a drawbridge ; beyond it is the populous suburb of 
Floriana, with its parade ground and gardens. The 
fortifications here are very remarkable. In the olden 
days they were regarded as impregnable, and it is 
related of Napoleon that when he first passed through 
them to take possession of the city, he turned to one 
of his generals and observed, " It is fortunate we had 
friends inside to open the gates for us " ; the French 
kniofhts havinff, it is said, forced the Grand Master Von 
Hompesch to capitulate. The population of Valetta 
is about 25,000, and of the populous suburb known 
as " The Three Cities," 25,000. The Three Cities are 
really three contiguous towns, called Vittoriosa, Cos- 
picua, and Senglea. Besides these there are six towns 
and upwards of twenty villages in Malta. 

None of the local industries are of much importance. 
In ancient times Malta was famous for its cotton 
manufactures. Cotton goods arc still made, but 



96 GENERAL 

only on a small scale and for local use. The chief 
industry now is that of lace making. The lace is made 
mostly in Gozo, and gives employment to from 4000 
to 5000 women and girls. Other industries are those 
of cigar and cigarette making, gold and silver filigree 
work, soap-boiling, match-making, straw-plaiting, basket- 
weaving, &c. There are boat-building yards, carriage 
works, flour mills, and a brewery, also ice works and 
cold stores for frozen meat. 

Gozo lies to the north-west of Malta. It is a much 
smaller island, having an area of only about 20 square 
miles, and a population of about 20,000. On three 
sides it rises abruptly from the sea ; it is only on the 
side facing Malta that a landing is possible. It is 
more verdant and productive than Malta in proportion 
to its size. The Maltese name for it is Ghandex, 
which is said to be a corruption of Codex, the name 
given to it by the Romans to show that it is a tail or 
appendage of the sister island, from which it is 
separated by a channel 2h miles wide. The capital of 
Gozo is a small town in the centre of the island, which 
used to be called Rabato, but was changed by desire of 
the inhabitants into Vittoria in 1887 in honour of the 
Queen's Jubilee. The female portion of the inhabi- 
tants are engaged to a large extent, as I have said, in 
lace making. The men are agriculturalists and fisher- 
men. Tlie island is famous for honey, fruit, and 
vegetables, and a peculiar kind of- cheese made of 
sheep's milk. 

Comino lies in the channel between Malta and 
Gozo ; it is only about one square mile in extent, and 
can boast of only a solitary farm and chapel. The 
name is derived from the cuimnin seed. It will long 
be remembered as the island off which the Sultan 
grounded in 1889. 

The history of the islands extends back to the 
time of the Phoinicians, who formed a settlement here 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 97 

betAveeu 1400 tmd 1500 li.c. They remained iu sole 
possession of the place for over 700 years, and appear 
to have brought it to a high state of prosperity. 
Remains of their temples are still to be seen in both 
islands, the most interesting being the megalithic ruins 
of Hagiar Kem and Mnaidra in Malta, and the so- 
called Giant's Tower in Gozo. The Greeks followed the 
Ph(jenicians, and were themselves succeeded by the 
Carthaginians, under whom the islands prospered 
exceedingly. During the wars between the Romans 
and the Carthaginians Malta seems to have been taken 
and retaken, remaining finally in the possession of the 
Romans. A Roman governor administered the islands, 
but a large amount of liberty was accorded to the 
people, who retained their own laws, customs, and 
institutions. The Romans remained masters of Malta 
until the break up of the Empire. The most notable 
event during their occupation was the landing of St. 
Paul in A.D. 58, and the conversion of the people to 
Christianity. From 870 to 1090 the islands were in 
the hands of the Saracens, from whom they were con- 
quered by Count Roger, otherwise Roger the Norman, 
in the latter year. He added them to his Sicilian do- 
minions, and they remained subject to the sovereigns of 
Sicily for nearly a hundred years, when, through the 
marriage of the sister of King Tancred, a descendant 
of Count Roger, with the Emperor Henry VL, they 
passed under the sway of Germany. In 1266 they 
were seized by the notorious Charles of Anjou, and 
remained a French possession until shortly after the 
Sicilian Vespers. During this period the unhappy 
islanders suffered terribly from misgovernmcnt and 
oppression, but worse was in store for them under their 
new masters, the Aragonese. The kings of Aragon, 
ever in want of money, mortgaged the islands to 
various feudal lords who, under the title of Viceroys, 
oppressed the people beyond endurance, and tlnally 



v 



98 GENERAL 

drove them into revolt. An arrangement was then 
come to for incorporating the islands with the kingdom 
of Sicily, and giving the people the same privileges as 
the Sicilians. In i 5 1 9 the islands passed by inheritance 
to the great Emperor Charles V. Eleven years later 
Pope Clement VII. induced Charles to cede them to 
the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who had been 
driven out of Rhodes eight years previously. The 
deed of gift is preserved in the Armoury of the 
Palace in Valetta, signed by Charles and bearing his 
seal. L'Isle Adam, the Grand Master of the Order, 
landed in Malta on the 26th of October 1530, and 
took formal possession of the islands. The rule of the 
knights lasted from that time until June 1798, when 
Malta Avas seized by the French, and Von Hompesch, 
the last of the Grand Masters, left with a few followers 
for Trieste. The two most important events in the 
history of the islands during the rule of the knights 
were, first, the Great Siege in 1565, when the knights 
under La Valette succeeded in defending the place 
against the repeated attacks of the Turkish fleet. After 
four months' siege the invaders were obliged to retire, 
with the loss of three-fourths of their men. This 
victory was an event of far more than local importance, 
and gained for the gallant defenders the applause and 
thanks of the whole Christian world. The second 
great event was the founding of the modern capital. 
The foundation-stone is said to have been laid at eight 
o'clock in the morning of the 28th of March 1566, 
and the city was named after its founder the hero of 
the siege, Jean Parisot de la Valette, whose statue now 
adorns one side of Porta Reale, the main entrance 
gateway. 

Early in June 1798, Napoleon, in command of the 
fleet intended for the conquest of Egypt, appeared ofl* 
Malta and, inventing a pretext for quarrelling with the 
Grand Master, landed a ibrce and took possession of 



THE MALTESE ISLANDS 99 

the isliiuds without opposition. Alter rcmaiiiing ;i few 
days ill Valetta to establish a now goveriiinent and 
collect all the treasure he could lay his hands on, he 
set sail, leavinn' General Vaubois in command with 
some three thousand men to garrison the forts. The 
force, though small, would have been sufficient had 
the people been friendly; but the French had outraged 
their feelings by plundering their churches, and the 
woi-k of spoliation was continued by Vaubois's men. 
The inevitable result followed. The Maltese rose in 
revolt, massacred the troops garrisoning Citta Vccchia, 
and besieged Valetta. Nelson was appealed to, and 
sent a fleet to their assistance. For two years the 
siege lasted, then General Vaubois surrendered. That 
was in September 1800, and on the 19th of February 
I 801, General Pigott, in command of the British troops 
then in the island, issued a })roclamation to the effect 
that " His Britannic Majesty took the Maltese under 
liis protection and granted them the full enjoyment of 
their religion, property, and liberties." Our permanent 
occupation of the islands was agreed to by Europe in 
Article VIL of the Treaty of Paris of 181 4. That 
the Maltese have greatly benefited by their connection 
with this country no one can deny ; that they are 
freer, happier, and better off generall}' now than they 
ever were before in all their long history is equally iucon- 
testible. Tiiey are allowed full liberty in the manage- 
ment of their own affairs, and they are looked after 
and protected by us at no cost to themselves. And 
though there are in Malta, as in most other places, 
agitators and sedition-mongers, they have never had 
any real following. These men, lor their own selfish 
ends, have made a clamour for the expulsion of the 
" stranger," meaning the British ; but the cry Avas 
never well received by any section of the people, and 
is now seldom heard. The great mass of Maltese arc 
far too sensible to be taken in by so sill}- a cry. They 



I oo GENERAL 

know that the departure of the " stranger " would 
mean the ruin of the pkice, and, knowing this, there is 
little likelihood of their advocating so suicidal a policy. 
The majority — the great majority — -are amongst 
the most loyal of the Queen's subjects, as was shown 
by the enthusiasm of all classes during the recent 
jubilee festivities. 

In conclusion, I cannot do better than quote the 
words of a very intelligent Maltese. Writing to the 
Tijnes not long ag^o on Malta, the Rev. A. Camillin 
says : " Never at any historical period have the Maltese 
been richer, freer, happier, and better governed than 
they have been ever since the British flag waved on 
the island and the Maltese merchant vessels." He 
adds : " The one thing they might wish to have is 
time, experience, and more extended knowledge of the 
Eno'lish toniJi'ue." 



CYPRUS AND SOMK OK ITS POSSIBILITIES 

r>v Mu. Axn Mrs. PATRICK GEDDES 

The whole island is not Tnucli larger than a large 
Scottish county ; it has no large towns, and no impor- 
tant town industries, but depends almost exclusively 
on atjriculture. To send immigrants there in great 
numbers, especially any without agricultural aptitudes 
or training, would therefore be only to court that dis- 
appointment, which the unemployed Armenian immi- 
grants already there are actually now experiencing. 

There is no sufficient extent of wholly unoccupied 
land, as in Canada for instance, from which grants 
could be made to settle immisjrants. and the native 
population is already so poor and so heavily burdened 
by the annual tribute, that it is needful to be cautious 
before introducing the unemployed, who tend of course 
to become (or at least to be dreaded as) a new burden. 
The problem, then, is not without difficulties. 

On the other hand, Cyprus needs an increase of 
population to develop its resources, which are as yet to 
a large extent unworked. The present population is 
less than a fifth of what it was under the Venetians ; 
a little over 200,000 now as aijainst over a million 
then ; and the land is in some parts entirely unculti- 
vated, in others, much less intensively cultivated than 
it would admit of — for lack of hands and capital and 
skill. Hence land can be purchased or leased on 
reasonable terms, and as capital and organising power 
become available, the colonists can be settled on it. 

Now a word as to the methods of organising such 



I02 GENERAL 

settlements. While it is quite natural that national 
and individual sympathy and help should go out in the 
first place to the orphans and widows, thereafter to the 
general mass of destitute refugees, and only lastly to 
the competent leaders amongst these, yet this philan- 
thropic method is not the best in practice ; for to re- 
organise labour we must begin from the opposite end. 
Imagine a rout, such as that which the recent Graeco- 
Turkish war news has brought so vividly before us. 
Must not the leaders (or whoever seek to replace them) 
begin by rallying the officers first, and through them 
the rank and file of troops, only thereafter the helpless 
fugitives, the women and children ? So it should be 
with Armenian or any other refugees. We must first 
find and utilise the captains of industry, of whom there 
are not a few. Find industrial leaders, then depend- 
able foremen, and set them to manage the available 
workers ; and this even in the best interests of the 
orphans and widows. 

We are not now treating of the question of im- 
mediate relief, but of that of providing permanent 
industrial openings for those whom we now go on 
relieving, and at the same time demoralising — a pro- 
cess in active operation — for many a lost leader has 
by this time, thanks to our uneconomic philanthropy, 
settled down to become a befrtjino^-lettcr writer, since 
we did not set him to work. Cyprus might have 
become one of the best of rallying centres, and this for 
all the refugees it contained, provided the available 
leaders had been utilised on the one hand, and the 
capital to start them been forthcoming on the other. 

The greater part of our three months' stay was 
occupied in a study of the island, its needs and possi- 
bilities ; in which we received the most friendly and 
valuable assistance and information as well as en- 
couragement from the officials, from the High Com- 
missioner downwards. 



CYPRUS 103 

Cyprus, althougli, as we have said, not much larger 
than the largest of our counties, has a much greater 
variety of agricultural possibilities and resources. This 
is largely owing to the difference in level from the 
almost subtropical plain to cool temperate heights (the 
principal range rising to 6400 feet). Given water, any- 
thing from dates and cotton up to apples and oats can 
thus bo grown. The main products of the island, beside 
cereals, beans, pulse, &c., are olives, carobs or locust 
beans (largely used for cattle food), the vine, orange, 
pomegranate, and other fruits, with mulberries for silk. 
Stock raising and mule-breeding might also be profit- 
ably carried on, especially for the Egyptian market. In 
spite of the ruin brought about by the centuries of 
disforesting, during which time torrential rivers have 
been carrying down the soil into the sea, or to form 
the unhealthy marshes, &c., too common in all Mediter- 
ranean countries, there still remains a great deal of 
fertility in the island, and with improved irrigation, 
tree-planting, and skilled farming, Cyprus can be made 
to yield much more abundantly than it does under 
the present circumstances, the ground being merely 
scratched with a primitive wooden plough, the olives, 
vines, &c., either left unpruned, or overpruned, and 
so on. 

In agriculture it is not too much to say that 
almost every conceivable mistake is made, every sin of 
omission and commission, and the field for improve- 
ment is thus correspondingly great. 

One of the first things was the need of improving 
the silk industry. This forms one of the most impor- 
tant possible sources of Avealth of the island, for the 
native Cyprus cocoon is both larger than any other 
and gives a stronger thread; hence it is likely that 
Cyprus silk, if properly produced and wound, will com- 
pete favourably with other kinds, and with the imi- 
tations or substitutes for silk, even if these latter 



I04 GENERAL 

should succeed as well as is predicted by their pro- 
moters. 

At the present moment owing to ignorance and 
carelessness, silk culture in Cyprus has so declined that 
where a French peasant would produce forty cocoons, 
a Cypriote will often only succeed in rearing six ; so 
that in some parts the peasants had in despair begun 
to cut down their valuable mulberry trees. In co- 
operation with Mr. van Millingen, manager of the 
Imperial Ottoman Bank in Cyprus, himself almost an 
expert in silk and a resourceful organiser of Arme- 
nian labour, a School of Sericulture was opened at 
Nicosia, with a branch at Larnaka — both under 
the direction of an Armenian silk expert, with 
the assistance of a young compatriot from Broussa. 
The school opened in spring 1897 with over 40 
students, i.r. 15 or 16 native Cypriotes, and about 2 5 
Armenians. Instruction Avas given in the Pasteurian 
methods of eliminating disease, and on other important 
and hitherto neglected points ; and the students took 
turns under supervision in the rearing of silk-worms, 
which during the greater part of the six weeks or two 
months of their development require constant atten- 
tion and feeding both night and day. No fees were 
asked, the students giving their services in return for 
instruction ; while to the Armenian students who had 
not the means of subsistence during this period several 
small bursaries (of is. per day) were given. 

Thus many of these students have become quaHlied 
to be sent out into the villages where silk-rearing is 
practised, to spread this so much needed instruction in 
scientific methods, which mainly consist in Diicroscopic 
examination to guarantee the eggs, and in antiseptic 
cleanliness during the rearing. (Wliat a reformation 
miglit be brought about in the East were this habit of 
cleanliness necessary to silk-rearing once learned and 
applied to daily life!) Fn time every Silk School 



CYPRUS 105 

should even pay its way, from the sale of cggt^ of 
guaranteed quality. 

You will have noted that in our little Silk School 
Cypriotes and Armenians were working together, a point 
we should like to emphasise. For just as it seems to 
us that we help the helpless best by helping and rally- 
ing the competent leaders first, so we are also convinced 
that if we are to do the best permanently for the 
Armenians, we nuist not isolate them from the com- 
munity amidst which they are to settle, thereby 
inevitably arousing dislike and opposition to them. 
Takinsf this concrete case of the little Silk School at 
Nicosia, had we admitted Armenians only we should 
have run great risk of arousing jealousy and ill-will in 
the minds of the Cypriotes against the Armenians ; 
and we should not have had help or encouragement 
from the island government, which is naturally one of 
and for Turks and Greeks mainly. Let the Armenians 
show, as they can do in Cyprus, that their presence 
there will be a benefit to, not a drain upon, the already 
heavily taxed island, and they will be welcomed and 
themselves prosper accordingly, just as did the Hugue- 
nots silk-weavers two centiu'ies ago in this country. 
Such trained and disciplined workers may later on do 
good service to their countrymen in Armenia, when the 
country is more settled and they can return in safety. 
In this way then too, Cyprus may become a rallying 
centre from which to send out captains of industry, 
who unite (as the best Armenians do) Avith Western 
science that comprehension of, and sjmipathy with. 
Eastern needs and habits, which we Westerns at first 
naturally lack, and which we can never hope completely 
to supply. 

In addition to silk-rearing, the other processes of 
winding, spinning, and weaving are all in the same 
need of being improved. 

In regard to silk-winding, Mr. van Millingen started 



io6 GENERAL 

on a very small scale a better machine than any exist- 
ing in the island. The machine was made by an 
Ai-menian carpenter, and afterwards improvements were 
added by Mr. van Millingen and by Sir Walter Sendall 
(the High Commissioner), who interested himself 
keenly in this department of the work, and others. 
Encouraged by the success of this experiment, Mr. 
Bunting's Committee hopes to provide funds for the 
starting of silk-winding on a larger scale. 

One branch of our Cyprus work, which may not 
be without suggestiveness to other centres elsewhere, 
is the formation of a village colony. A hundred acres 
were offered to us by the trustees of the Armenian 
Monastery of the island, rent free, for a period of five 
years, on the condition of its being reclaimed and cul- 
tivated. We afterwards arranged for eight years instead 
of five, Avith the understanding also that the colonists 
should at the end of this period be kept on at a fair 
rent. Our Armenian manager estimated that ;^500 
would be required to start a small group of families 
upon this land, to build houses, buy seed, implements, 
&c., and pay wages to keep them going until their first 
crops were up; for it was then too late to have the 
ground ready for a summer crop. Canon Rawnsley's 
Keswick Committee, with a promptitude for which we 
are very grateful, wired us the ^^500 required, and so 
enabled us before leaving the island to accept this offer 
and set going the preparations for starting the colony.^ 

' Perhaps it lias not been made siifliciently clear that this is no new 
initiative of settling of Armenians In a strange country, but simply the 
renewal of one of their oldest centres of religion and of refuge wiiich 
has served them in former persecutions again and again. Tradition- 
ally founded by St. Magliar in the third century, its authentic records 
date from the twelfth. In 1 140 the son of the kiug of Armenia, Leo I., 
was taken captive by the Emperor to Constantinople, but escaped 
to Cyprus and stayed hero for some time nlong with some of his 
countrymen, who were suffering persecution by tin; Greeks of Cyprus. 
Hidden in its mountains, it is an ideal refuge. In 1 159 the superior of 
the convent was a member of the Church council in /Vsia Minor, and 



CYPRUS 107 

More capital could be carefully employed iu this 
way, for the Monastery owns about 3000 acres, and 
would probably bo willing to have more of it worked 
on similar terms. Personal inspection on our visit in- 
dicated that the principal spring was capable of great 
improvement, and a little work at once proved this. 
We have consequently obtained a survey of the whole 
set of springs upon which the fertility of this estate so 
largely depends, with a result that a gradual expendi- 
ture of about ;^200 (which would of course employ as 
many men in relief works as the corresponding sum 
anywhere else) would not only permanently enhance 
the fertility of the existing cultivated area, but notably 
extend this. 

It cannot be too clearly understood that along this 
whole mountain range the mountain springs have I'or 
ages been sealing themselves up with a thick deposit 
of carbonate of lime, just as a kettle in any limestone 
district at home becomes gradually spoiled by a limy 
deposit. It only needed a little geological instruction 
in the field, and one or two practical experiments to 
satisfy those we left in charge, that here, as so often 
elsewhere, modern science is but recoverinsf the know- 

up to the Turkish occupation in 1571, it frequently served as a place 
of refuge for priests and sometimes people from persecutions on the 
mountain. In 1692 a conference with the Patriarch of Jerusalem was 
held. After the Turkish conquest, Sultans Mustapha and Mahmoud 
issued several firmans exempting the convent lands from taxation. In 
1S50 the convent became a dependence of the Armenian Church at 
Nicosia; its monks died out and it became a simple farm, and that 
falling out of cultivation. Thus it will be readily seen that in planting 
a colony of refugee Armenians on the lands of St. Maghar, there is no 
danger of exciting race animosities in Cyprus ; for both Greeks and 
Turks, most respectful of tradition in all things, readily admit and 
acquiesce in the prescriptive rights of the Armenians to their ancient 
home. Now that these beginnings are made, it is very desirable that 
some Armenian who appreciates these traditions of his people should 
return to St. Maghar — as a modern abbot, in short. There is already 
one such Greek abbot in the island — agriculturalist, educationist, and 
statesman, as well as churchman. Have the Armenians not one such 
somewhere ? 



io8 GENERAL 

ledge and the practical " wisdom of the Egyptians," 
and that here at their disposal is the very miracle of 
Moses' rod ; for the geological agriculturalist has again 
but to smite the rock in the right place, and the waters 
gush forth as of old. 

How much such an improved water supply would 
mean for agricultural prosperity — in other words, what 
water-springs and brooks mean in these thirsty lands 
— cannot be adequately realised even by the Eastern 
traveller, not even by the Biblical student, save as he 
brings an increasing study of the climate and geology, 
agriculture and economics of the East to the interpre- 
tation of its literature, its history on one hand, of its 
present troubles on the other. As one does this, what 
he may once have thought of as but the vivid meta- 
phors of jDoetic expression or of spiritual teaching 
become permanent realities ; as true, perhaps truer 
now than ever. Thus even the highest associations of 
Water, as with Peace and Life in the highest senses, 
are seen to have arisen from their elemental and literal 
association — that constant normal association of irriga- 
tion and intensive agriculture, not only with external 
peace and material prosperity, but also with internal 
social order, and with individual and general moral 
progress, which is the vital history of the East ; and 
this whether we read it in the Biblical descriptions of 
Eden or of Palestine, from the literature of ancient 
Egypt or from the teaching of Confucius. " II faut 
cultiver son jardin." 

Here tlien is one way, we venture to say an impor- 
tant and an essential way, in which Cyprus can become 
a centre of help alike for the Armenians and for the 
East. All industry is no doubt good in its way, and 
to encourage needlework, metal work, good work of all 
kinds is excellent and desirable ; to import Eastern 
goods for such as desire them, excellent also ; and with 
each and all of these lines of work we have actually 



CYPRUS 109 

been endeavouring in Cyprus to bear a hand. But all 
such matters are subsidiary and minor ones, and will 
be mischievous if thoy disguise from us (as in our 
Western world of mechanical industry, of manufac- 
tures and of commerce they constantly do disguise) 
the fundamental agricultural order of the East. In a 
word, we must not forget that we have first to aid to 
reconstitute the self-supporting agricultural village, in 
Cyprus, in Armenia, everywhere through the ruined 
East, before we seek to reproduce a miniature manu- 
facturing and exporting town. 



ST. HELENA 



By R. a. STEENDALE 



{Governor of St. Helena ; Author of " Mammalia of British 
India and Ceylon" <i-c.) 



On the 21st day of May A.D. 1502, Joao da Nova, 
the commodore of a Portuguese fleet sailing homeward 
from the East Indies, discovered a lofty volcanic island 
right in the track of the SE. trade winds, in latitude 
15° 55' S. and longitude 5° 49' W. 

The day of discovery being that recorded as the 
birthday of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the 
Great, he called the island after her. 

It was not then so barren as it appears now from 
the sea, for the frowning cliffs were crowned with the 
foliage of indigenous vegetation which has now almost 
disappeared, or has been supplanted by an alien flora. 
Clear rivulets ran down the gorges through forests of 
the native gumwood and ebony. The rivulets remain, 
but the foliage, alas ! has gone, except in the interior, 
where the luxuriance of the vegetation caused a recent 
traveller to describe St. Helena as an emerald set in 
granite. Few people imagine, from a passing glance, 
that so forbidding an exterior contains, like a rugged 
walnut, so fair a kernel. 

Viewed from the deck of a ship it is certainly not 
prepossessing. Lofty barren hills split up and divided 
by deep gorges, with a total absence of verdure beyond 
a few patches of samphire and cactus, for from the sea 
the wooded peaks of the interior are shut out from 
view by the precipitous clitls. In Joao da Nova's 



ST. HELENA iii 

day the woods ran down to the sea, and what is 
now a dreary waste of bare rock with patches of 
cactus extending from Ladder Hill to High Knoll, was 
then a dense forest in which the earlier settlers used 
to lose their way. This deforesting arose from the 
cutting down of the trees, in the vicinity of the first 
settlements, for firewood and building timber ; then the 
goats, which were imported, bred to such an extent 
that in the old records it is stated that the herds ex- 
tended for a mile long. These devoured the young- 
plants, and, deprived of the protecting influences of 
leaf and branch, the heavy rains washed away the thin 
coating of soil and exposed the barren rock. 

In the interior the soil being of greater depth and, 
where not covered by trees, protected by grass, the 
luxuriance of tlie vegetation is in striking contrast to 
the outer zone of lava. 

Melliss in his admirable work on the island says : 
" Its isolated position, its peculiar fauna, and its 
very remarkable insulai- Hora, together with its geo- 
logical character, present strong reasons for placing 
St. Helena amongst the oldest land now existing on 
the face of the globe." 

The island is bisected by a semicircular ridge, of 
whicli the highest point, Diana's Peak, is 2740 feet 
above the sea. To the south of this ridge lies an 
enormous basin, measuring about four miles across, 
which foi-ms part of the huge crater which existed at 
the volcanic period, the southern edge of this crater 
now being submerged in Sandy Bay. The view from 
the central ridge, or from the high road above Mount 
Pleasant, is one not easily to be surpassed, and I hope 
it will at some future time tempt artists of note to 
come and place it on the walls of the Royal Academy. 
From the latter point of view rise to the left the peaks 
of Actieon and Diana clothed in a forest of the old- 
world flora — tree ferns, dogwood, gumwood, and cab- 



1 1 2 GENERAL 

bage trees. Away to the right is a grand range of 
rocks, to describe which I will quote, to me, an unknown 
writer, a few scraps of whose graphic pictures I 
found not long ago. " On the right," he says, " great 
rugged mountains, black and naked, stretch their craggy 
peaks heavenward, the rocky summits being split and 
rent into the most fantastic outline, and seeming in 
their huge uprising to have shivered the strata through 
Avhicli they forced their way, and sent the boulders 
rolling into the vast abyss below in all directions — 

'Crags, knolls, and mounds confusedly hurl'd, 
The fragments of an earlier world.' 

'' Conspicuous in the centre of the chasm the 
rocky pyramid of Lot shoots its weather-worn pinnacle 
abruptly out of the surrounding scoria ; while to wind- 
ward, in an opening of the cliffs, is seen the bay with 
its narrow fringe of surf; and beyond all the vast 
expanse of the Atlantic Ocean where, ever and anon, 
favoured by the trade wind from the Cape, 

' The stately ships move on 

To their haven under the hill.' " 

No description of mine could improve on the above 
bit of word-painting. The Lot mentioned is a huge 
monolith of hard grey-stone shaped like a cone, situated 
on a ridge about 1440 feet above the sea, and rising 
from a base 100 feet in diameter to a height of nearly 
300 feet. About a mile farther to the south-west is 
Lot's Wife, another monolith, about 260 feet high and 
I 550 feet above the sea, which has the peculiarity of 
being narrower at the base than at the top. I have 
not space for a geological sketch of the island, but 
every turn is full of interest, and the newcomer, in 
going from Jamestown up the road to Ladder Hill, 
looks with a shudder at the masses of overhaiit'iny 
rocks wliicb ages ago wore streams of molten lava 
cooling into most weird and fantastic forms. 



ST. HELENA i i 3 

St. Helena is very well watered, and in this it 
favourably contrasts with the volcanic island of Ascen- 
sion. There are over two hundred springs discharging 
fresh water into the ocean. The best testimony to the 
generosity of soil and climate is to be found in the 
fact that trees from all parts of the world have been 
successfull}^ introduced, and have flourished to such an 
extent as to drive back the indigenous flora to the 
central mountains. The extensive grounds of Govern- 
ment House contain trees from Europe, Asia, Africa, 
Australia, and Polynesia. The Araucaria excelsa, or 
Norfolk Island Pine, so commonly seen as a pot plant 
in English conservatories, grows here to a height of 
over 100 feet. Side by side with a tree from Ceylon 
is the South Sea Island pandanus or screw pine ; the 
oak and the bamboo, the apple and the banana, 
mingle their foliage; here and there an indigenous 
tree stands amid a host of aliens. The English furze 
and blackberry have overrun the island, but every 
marshy valley is white with the snowy blooms of the 
Arum lily, ^ All the mammals on the island have been 
imported — the ubiquitous rat, the pest of the place, 
not excepted. In Joao da Nova's day the only 
mammal was the manatee or sea-cow {Manatus australis 
or JA Sencgalensis), the former being the American and 
the latter the African species. It may, however, have 
been peculiar to the island, but for centuries it has 
been killed when found ashore, and the last one was 
destroyed in i S i o, and there is not even a bone left 
for a naturalist to speculate upon. The only indigenous 
land-bird is a small one of the plover family (^(/ialitis 
Sanctm Helence), or " wire-bird," as it is locally called, 
the other birds being imported ones, and are mostly 
of the finch family. Canaries are wild and numerous, 
and are charming semesters ; and there is a beautiful 
little crimson bird called the cardinal finch. Avaduvats 
and Java sparrows abound, a small ground dove, a 

V H 



114 GENERAL 

pheasant from China, and a partridge from India. 
There are no birds of prey, but insectivorous birds are 
greatly wanted to keep down numerous insect pests. 
There are no snakes nor any noxious reptile, reptiha 
being represented only by a harmless little lizard, two 
enormous tortoises of fabulous age — it is said over i 5 o 
years — and a small species of frog introduced lately, 
and Avhich has now spread marvellously all over the 
island. 

Before proceeding to the history of the place, I 
must briefly mention its inhabitants. The Portu- 
guese left no trace of their occupancy, nor did the 
Dutch, so I allude to the present people of St. Helena 
— not the English descendants of the old colonial 
officials who settled in the island, the gentry of the 
place, but to the St. Helenians proper. Sixty-five 
years ago they were slaves, and consisted of a mixture 
of Europeans, Asiatics (including Chinese), and Africans. 
I am of opinion that the majority of the people are 
descended from the Malayo - Polynesians imported 
from Madagascar, which used to be the favourite 
source of slave supply in the old days. In the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they were cruelly 
treated, as the records of the time amply show, but in 
the beginning of the present century their condition 
was much ameliorated, and their emancipation was 
conducted with a wise and gradual progression. The 
initiative Avas due to Sir Hudson Lowe, the well-known 
custodian of Napoleon, who, after much deliberation, 
induced the proprietor inhabitants to agree that after 
Christmas Day 1818, all children born of slave parents 
should be free. The cause of the slaves was still 
further advanced by the philanthropic treatment of 
General Alexander Walker, who became Governor in 
March 1823, and who made great efforts to improve 
their religious and moral condition, and so fit them 
for their final emancipation in 1832, when, at a cost of 



ST. HELENA i 1 5 

i^2 8,000, they wore made free. It may take some 
generations to eradicate habits of dependence and in- 
dolence, which are the hereditary results of so long 
a period of slavery, but education has told and is 
telling on them, and, as Melliss writes of them, " they 
are a very quiet, tractable, inoflf'ensive people, amongst 
whom crime is small, murder unknown, and burglary 
so little thought of that doors and windows of houses 
are not secured by bolts and bars, or even locks and 
keys." I can confirm this, for during fourteen criminal 
sessions, over which I presided as Chief-Justice, I had 
white gloves presented to me on all but two occasions. 
They are very steady churchgoers, and most of them 
belong to benevolent and other charitable societies. 
The two great denominations are Church of England 
and Baptists. The Salvation Army is also represented. 
The first is presided over by the bishop, assisted by 
the vicars of the three parishes of St. James', St. Paul's, 
and St. Matthew's, who are also Canons of St. Paul's 
Cathedral. Besides these churches there is a Garrison 
chiu'ch in Jamestown, built at the time Avhen the 
military force was too large to be accommodated in St. 
James' Church. None of the churches can lay claim 
to any architectural beauty ; the most imposing is that 
of St. James, which I think should have been the 
cathedral, preference having been given to St. Paul's 
on account of its central position I suppose, for St. 
James' must have been built on the site of the chapel 
erected by the Portuguese, from which the valley was 
called Chapel Valley, subsequently named James' 
Valley, and Jamestown after King James II. 

The present Cathedral of St. Paul was erected in 
1847-48 on the site of an older country church, the 
memory of which is preserved in the monuments trans- 
ferred to the walls of the existing edifice. St. Paul's 
is utterly devoid of architectural beauty outside or in. 
The addition of a tower or spire would add greatly to 



ii6 GENERAL 

its appearance, and it is commandingly situated on a 
hill at the back of the Government House, and is sur- 
rounded by the principal cemetery of the island ; it is 
roomy, and that is all that can be said of it, but is 
capable of much improvement in the way of orna- 
mentation, but, alas, there are no funds available, nor 
likely to be for some time. When I arrived in the 
island I found that there was not an organ in any 
of the churches, the one in St. James' having been 
entirely destroyed by the white ants which devastated 
the town about thirty-five years ago. In the cathedral 
the services were conducted with a very indifferent 
harmonium, but I found a little old organ all in ruins ; 
it had one tiny keyboard, no pedals. 

We were fortunate in having some one on the 
island who understood organ-building, so we had it 
repaired, as the tone was good. But it is very desir- 
able that the principal place of worship in the island 
should possess an organ even as good as most country 
villages in England have. In no place in the world 
would it be more appreciated, for the St. Helenians 
are devoted to music. I found the local band in a 
moribund condition, but by the purchase of some new 
instruments and a more liberal patronage it has revived. 
The performers are mostly labourers and out-door 
servants, and it is a pleasant sight to me to see the 
men after their day's work trudging down to James- 
town to attend the evening practices. The church 
choirs are also popular with them, and some of the 
voices, though untrained, are very good. In the funeral 
services the organ would be greatly appreciated, for the 
St. Helenians dearly love a funeral, and always demand 
a hymn to be sung at the side of the grave. I think 
the late bishop was right in his opinion when he told 
me that I lie love of the St. Helenians for a grand 
funeral had its origin in the old slave days. In those 
days the slaves were buried anywhere and anyhow. In 



ST. HELENA 117 

the Government House grounds, near some large clumps 
of Indian bamboos, in a valley where the Chinese had 
their Joss-house, are a couple of small headstones, one 
of which is dated 1777, and a few others in fragments, 
and in many places in the island are to be found traces 
of slave burial ; but their masters had imposing funerals, 
which they had to attend, and then when emancipation 
came they, too, went in for a more ceremonious way of 
disposing of their dead. The St. Helcnian is very loyal. 
Away in his island home, in the very centre of the wide 
Atlantic, he is no politician ; he knows nothing of party 
feeling, and cares little about other countries save Eng- 
land and England's Queen, who is also his Queen, re- 
presented by the Governor she sends out to look after 
his interests, and he is not chary of the little money he 
has when any loyal demonstration calls for it, as on the 
Jubilee of her Majesty's Accession in 1887, and again 
on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of 1897. 

His lot is very different now to what it was in the 
old days of slavery. 

Owing to the wise and gradual process of emanci- 
pation adopted here, the free children growing up with 
their slave parents, the evils of sudden manumission 
so disastrously felt in the West Indies were avoided in 
St. Helena, and the result is a manly, civil, and honest 
people, quite as well educated as the same class in the 
United Kingdom (in fact, the English tongue is spoken 
by them Avith greater purity than in most of our rural 
districts in England), living in comfortable cottages, in 
many cases with productive little gardens attached. 
Contrast this life with that of the seventeenth and 
eiijhteenth centuries : — 

Slaves were judicially tortured, hung, drawn and 
quartered, and burnt alive on mere circumstantial evi- 
dence, whilst for open acts of diabolical cruelty their 
masters were acquitted or slightly punished. I take 

the followino- instances from the records : — 

o 



ii8 GENERAL 

''January 2, 1693. — Jamy, a slave of Deputy-Gover- 
nor Keeling, found guilty of sorcery and burnt to 
death." 

"In November 1687 Peter, and December 1689 
Job and Derick, slaves, convicted of poisoning their 
masters out of revenge, were burnt to death ; all other 
slaves to be present, and to bring down a turn of wood 
for the purpose." 

" A black who was tried before a jury and acquitted, 
was ordered to be floo-o-ed before beinsf discharged ! " 

" For stealing a piece of cloth from a sailor in the 
street, William Whaley was hung on the 24th July 
1789; and on the 15 th Januar}^ 1800, Job, Mr. 
Defountain's slave, was hung for snatching a bottle of 
liquor from a drunken soldier. Both these cases were 
looked upon as highway robbery." 

" A young girl was found guilty of burglary ; the 
jury were told to reconsider their verdict, but the}^ 
adhered to it, and she was sentenced to death. She 
was respited for a time, but hung herself in prison." 

But the times were cruel, and we must remember 
that in England highway robbery, sheep-stealing, and 
forgery were capital offences. 

Even the whites in St. Helena suffered cruel 
punishments. In 1684 Elizabeth Starling was flogged 
and ducked three times. In November 1728, Ensign 
Slaughter, accused of slandering the Governor, was 
Hogged ; and later in the records is a reference to this 
whipping, which, it is stated, was done with wire- 
whips and fish-hooks tied to a cord ! 

As regards the history of the island, the first pur- 
pose to which St. Helena was put in i 5 i 3 was to make 
it a place of exile for a Portuguese noble named Fernao 
Lopez, wlio, having been disgraced luid nuitilatcd, was 
left here with a tew slaves and a stock of pigs, goats, 
and ])oultry. 

Henceforth the Portuguese made it a port of call ; 



ST. HELENA 119 

and by the end of the century there was a considerable 
settlement there with a church ; but the attention of 
the Mother Country having been diverted into other 
channels, St. Helena was neglected and finally aban- 
doned. The Dutch then took possession of it and 
retained it till 1 6 5 i , when they left it in order to con- 
centrate themselves at the Cape of Good Hope, and the 
island was at once appropriated by the English East 
India Company, who improved the place much, and 
strengthened the fortifications in Chapel Valley, which 
original name they changed to James' Valley, in honour 
of the Duke of York, afterwards James II. Fort James 
gave in recent years its name to Jamestown, the pre- 
sent capital. It is stated in Melliss' book that the 
Dutch captured the island in 1665, and it is so asserted 
in Anderson's " History of Commerce," but there is no 
proof or contemporary record of such an occurrence. 

The Dutch, however, made a strong attempt to 
regain the place, and in 1672, after a severe repulse 
in Lemon Valley, they succeeded in landing 500 men 
at Bennett's Point and penetrated inland nearly to 
High Peak, where they were met by a small force 
from the island garrison. An engagement ensued 
which ended in victory on the side of the invaders, 
who then marched upon Fort James, which capitulated 
after lontjf and tedious attacks. The Governor and 
most of the English inhabitants escaped with their 
goods on board the ships which were in the harbour, 
and making for the Brazilian coast they fell in with a 
British squadron under the command of Captain (after- 
wards Sir Richard) Munden, who immediately bore up 
for St. Helena and, unperceived by the Dutch, landed 
a force of 200 men at a spot on the east coast, to 
make their way across whilst he sailed round to James' 
Bay. The little force which had been landed was 
guided by Oliver, an island-born slave, through the 
rugged ravines till at last farther progress seemed 



120 GENERAL 

to be stayed by an insui-moiintable barrier. A sailor 
named Tom volunteered, however, to scale the preci- 
pice, and amid the encouraging shouts of " Hold fast, 
Tom ! " from his comrades he succeeded, taking with 
him a ball of twine by means of which he was enabled 
to haul up ropes. The rock is called " Holdfast Tom " 
to this day in memory of the gallant action by which 
the little force was enabled to gain the heights of 
Longwood, and thence to march on to the top of 
Rupert's Hill overlooking James' Valley. Captain 
Munden appearing at the same time in the Bay, 
the Dutch Avere so surprised at being taken in front 
and rear that they surrendered at once. Captain 
Munden erected the fortification known as Munden's 
Battery, and otherwise strengthened the place ; and he 
had the satisfaction of taking prisoner the Dutch 
Governor who had been sent out to assume the 
charge of the island, and also of securing several 
richly-laden Dutch vessels which, not suspecting that 
an enemy was in possession, had put in on their 
homeward way. Since then St. Helena has remained 
undisturbed in British hands. 

Three years later the island was visited by the 
celebrated astronomer Halley, in memory of whom 
the high ridge on which he pitched his tent has been 
named " Halley's Mount." 

The East India Company were determined to make 
the place impregnable for the future, and batteries 
were built to command every Aveak point and the 
garrison increased. For nearly two centuries it was 
looked upon as a valued possession, and a sum of 
between eighty and ninety thousand pounds was 
annually spent on it. Of local forces, there were 
three companies of St. Helena Artillery and the 
St. Helena Regiment of Infantry, 700 strong, besides 
Militia. 

No wuntlcr, then, that the British Government 



ST. HELENA 121 

casting their eyes about for a safe place in which 
to confine the Great Emperor, fixed upon the Gib- 
raltar of the South Atlantic as a fitting prison ; and 
accordingly Napoleon was conveyed there in October 
1 8 I 5 ; and there he died in May i 8 2 i , 

In 1 832, the East India Company abolished slavery 
at a cost of ^28,000. 

The first blow to the prosperity of the St. 
Helenians came in the following year, when the island 
was transferred from the East India Company to the 
Home Government. Some little time elapsed ere the 
transaction was completed ; but on the 24th February 
1836, Major-General Middlemore took formal posses- 
sion in the name of his Majesty, William IV. 

The change told heavily on the official residents ; 
for the Company's staff was greatly reduced, and many 
who had been in receipt of good salaries found them- 
selves cut down to comparative penury. 

The salary of the Company's Governors had been 
about ;^5ooo per annum; that of the Crown Governor 
was fixed at about one-half. Still a considerable civil 
staff' was kept up ; and in 1 840 a Vice-Admiralty 
Court for the trial of vessels engaged in the slave 
trade was established, which, with the working of the 
Liberated African Depot and the frequent visits of the 
naval squadron employed in the suppression of the 
slave trade, brought into circulation a considerable 
amount of money and furnished employment to the 
islanders, though unfortunately of a kind to cause 
them to neglect the diligent cultivation of their fertile 
soil, which would have been ultimately of greater 
benefit to them. The total extinction of the slave 
trade after the American War led to the reduction 
of the West African Squadron and the abolition of the 
Liberated African Establishment ; and then truly hard 
times began to fall on the poor little island. 

This time it was an invasion of an enemy which 



122 GENERAL 

did infinitely more harm than did the earher invaders, 
the Dutch. In the debris of a condemned vessel there 
happened to be a colony of white ants ; and these 
grew and multiplied in their new home to such an 
extent that Jamestown was almost ruined. When I 
visited the island in 1861, I was shown some of the 
ravages committed by this wicked little insect, of 
which I had seen a good deal in India, but of whose 
iniquities 1 had not till then formed an adequate 
conception. However, in justice to our Indian termite, 
I may say that the St. Helenian pest was man}^ years 
afterwards identified, by means of specimens taken to 
England by Mr. Melliss, as belonging to a South 
American species, and was probably introduced in the 
timbers of a Brazilian slaver. 

Still the St. Helenians jogged on comfortably 
enough in the little world of their own in spite of 
failing sources of revenue and white ants and a negro 
element in the population, which they would rather 
have done without ; and though some of the wiser 
ones may have looked anxiously ahead in anticipation 
of evil times to come, still the majority knew little 
and cared less for the Suez Canal, and were happy 
enough in the custom of the thousand ships which 
annually cast anchor in their harbour. But the Canal 
was at last finished, and ruin was hastened. Year by 
year saw the lessening of the tale of vessels. The 
old familiar names of the great passenger liners ceased 
to gladden the eyes of those who used to look out for 
them. Few passengers Avent to India round the Cape ; 
so the ships were sent to Australia and other distant 
lands, or were l>roken up as they got old and were 
replaced by powei'ful steamers or great four- masted 
vessels fitted with all the modern a})pliances that 
obviated the necessity for their putting in anywhere 
during the voyage for water or fresh provisions. And 
so, year by year, the number of vessels lessened, till at 



ST. HELENA 123 

last not one-fourth anchored in the almost deserted 
harbour. 

Now became apparent the tolly of neglecting the 
natural capabilities of the soil for the doubtful advan- 
tages of an outside traffic. St. Helena had no export 
trade. She imported everything, even to the food 
which she ousfht to have been able to "row for her 
own people. If her arable land was not extensive, her 
population was in ratio not excessive. Montserrat, an 
island of the same area and of like mountainous char- 
acter, has a thriving export trade, and supports a popu- 
lation now three times as great as that of St. Helena. 
But in the case of the latter her exports are nil, and 
her population is yearly decreasing by emigration. 

Such, briefly, is the history of one of the most 
charming of our smaller colonies. As I have remarked 
elsewhere, there was a time when St. Helena was a 
household word in the mouths of Englishmen and their 
children. 

" But now, beyond the fact of its having been the 
prison of Napoleon, and a vague idea that it is a barren 
volcanic rock somewhere in the midst of the ocean, 
and that it had a green spot with a weeping willow- 
tree hanging over the grave that once held the Great 
Emperor, few people know anything about the island. 
Tliat it ever had a past beyond the historical incident 
just alluded to, or that it is capable of a future, enters 
not into the minds of men. Old Anglo-Indians used 
to know something of it when the only route to India 
was round the Cape of Good Hope ; and even up to 
the time of the opening of the Suez Canal, when sail- 
ing-vessels ceased to carry passengers to the East, it 
was visited by some, like myself, who, for considera- 
tions of health, took the longer sea voyage. Now a 
few passengers to the Cape touch there ; but the time 
allowed is so short that but little of the island can be 
seen, and many content themselves with a view of the 



124 GENERAL 

outside which, Hke the rugged walnut, contains so fair 
a kernel." ^ 

As regards climate St. Helena has one of the 
finest in the world ; I think even preferable to Madeira, 
being drier in parts, and its effect on weak-chested 
and consumptive patients has been most beneficial. 
A steady cool trade-wind from the south-east blows 
all the year round and keeps down the heat of the 
tropics. Europeans go about with small caps on their 
heads, yet sunstroke is not known. I have experi- 
enced much hotter summers in England than in St. 
Helena. The maximum temperature in Jamestown, 
a confined valley near the sea, is 84°, whilst up in the 
interior it is ten degrees cooler ; the minimum cold in 
winter on the high lands is about 50°. 

The rainfall varies very much according to locality. 
Taking last year (1898) as an average, it was 36.06 
inches at Mount Pleasant, but only 4.82 in Jamestown. 
The population is about 4000, and the death-rate is 
about 14 per 1000, including seamen landed seriously 
ill. Many of the latter, however, recover, there being an 
excellent hospital with a most careful staff of nurses. 

The longevity of the inhabitants is remarkable, 
many of whom over eighty years of age continue 
working, and thiidc nothing of walking miles up the 
steep roads. The late Bishop was still actively con- 
trolling his diocese when, in his eighty-ninth year, he 
was killed in a carriage accident. Lately there died 
at the Castle, aged over ninety, an old lady (Miss E. P. 
Bagley) who had been custodian of that building for 
many years. She belonged to one of the old families 
of the island who were well-to-do in the East India 
Company's time ; though confined to her bed for years 
and unable to move she was of a most bright and 
cheerful disposition, and was possessed to the last of 

' From an article by the writer in the Asiatic Quarterly Jteview, 
entitled '• St Helena : The Gibraltar of the South Atlantic." 



ST. HELENA 125 

all her mental faculties. She used to receive her 
friends daily, and all visitors of note were to be found 
at her bedside ; admirals and generals and officers of 
the army and navy were her especial favourites, and 
they used to please her greatly when they went in 
uniform. She was full of anecdotes and reminiscences 
of the past, and remembered the landing of Napoleon, 
and was present at his funeral and exhumation. Her 
death last year severed a most interesting link with 
that historic period. 

The island has again lately come to the front as 
a State prison, General P. A. Cronje and 2000 of his 
Boer followers having been sent here after the sur- 
render at Paardeberg. With him came also Colonel 
Schiel, the Comte de Breda, and a number of the 
officers of the Transvaal army, and later on Elott" and 
others who were taken at Mafeking. 

General Cronji' with his wife, grandson, secretary, 
and adjutant reside in a small house, called Kent 
Cottage, under a guard. The rest of the war prisoners 
are in camp five miles off, near Longwood, on a healthy 
breezy plateau called Deadwood Plain. They are en- 
camped in a large enclosure surrounded by barbed 
wire fencing. They have good tents, plenty of good 
food, excellent water, and room for recreation — such 
as cricket, football, &c. Some of the officers are on 
parole, and such men as like to work are employed on 
fixed wages. On the whole, I do not think they will 
look back on their imprisonment here with feelings of 
animosity. 

There are no industries at present in St. Helena, but 
there are capabilities of a good business in fish-curing 
and of preparing fibre from the Furcnca gigantea,, an aloe 
which grows wild all over the island, with leaves vary- 
ing from three to eight feet long, which yield a fibre 
equal to Manilla hem]), commanding a good price. 
Coffee of an excellent quality is also grown, and the 



126 GENERAL 

cultivation is capable of much extension. The pas- 
sage from England by mail steamer takes sixteen days, 
the greater part of the voyage being in beautiful calm 
weather. 

The island has a submarine cable to the Cape, 
and has lately been connected directly with the United 
Kingdom via Ascension. 

As a place of resort for invalids and artists in 
search of health and the beautiful in scenery, I think 
there is a chance of St. Helena becoming a favourite in 
the future when it gets better known. 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 

By WALTER, .MERIVALE, Memb. Inst. C.E. 
I^Late Managiwi Director of the Barbados Railway) 

There is little in the history of the world that obtains 
as much attention from students as the development 
of the various races of man from their primitive con- 
dition of savagery into their supreme station of civilisa- 
tion and their gradual return to barbarism. In a 
greater or lesser degree this rise and fall is the history 
of every race, so far as it is known, and there may be 
something of the selfish pleasure one feels in reading 
one's family history in thus studying the history of our 
species. The consciousness that the life of our own 
nation nuist be lived within lines parallel to those of 
the lives of the nations we read about, gives us a special 
interest in the account of their doings, the causes of 
their rise, and the reasons of their fall. It is with 
difficulty that with rough pick and shovel, with plioto- 
graphy, with chemical analysis, and with etymological 
science we trace the rough outlines of the early 
scenes of the life of great nations, often smearing out 
the tentative sketches of our predecessors as the de- 
velopment of a photograph, or the turn of a shovel, 
enables us to fill in some detail in the scene, until at 
last the canvas is full. Often however we nmst rely 
upon imagination for the filling up of gaps that are 
far wider than the part painted. What can we say 
of the ancestors of even such a modern nation as the 
English before the time when Julius Qesar found 
them wandering about the island, painted savages 



127 



128 GENERAL 

with stone hatchets ? And yet, to have arrived at 
even that degree of civiUsation, they must have toiled 
patiently upwards for many centuries, and that they did 
so the little we can find out about them from their 
tombs tells us. And the earlier pages of the history 
even of Caesar's own great nation are very blank. 
It is with a greater interest, then, that we may turn 
to the history of the West Indian negro, who has 
grown from a savage into a man of culture in four 
hundred years. His compatriots arc still wandering 
about the primeval forests of Africa precisely as he 
left them between one hundred and four hundred 
years ago ; but he is walking erect, in top-hat and 
trousers, administering justice in silk to European 
litigants, or in bands, gaiters, and lawn-sleeves giving 
his blessing to his kneeling Hock in an English church. 
His ancestors are, so to speak, still with us, and 
we can study them at our ease ; we need no con- 
jecture to enable us to paint the picture of their daily 
lives. But our savage forefathers Avent to their graves 
two thousand years ago, leaving nothing but their 
graves behind them to tell us how they lived. It is 
the object of the following pages to describe one 
country out of the dozen or so inhabited by negroes 
in the West Indies, which they have made almost 
their own, and it is hoped that thereby some of 
the many misconceptions about the virtues and vices 
of the West Indian negro may be removed. I have 
chosen Barbados, partly because, having never be- 
longed to any other nation but the British, its negroes 
offer a simpler case to describe, and partly because 
Barbados is an island in which I have lived for some 
years, and am therefore enabled to speak of things 
which I have seen myself, and am not obliged to 
depend upon the reports of others. 

Barbados is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, stand- 
ing out about lOO miles from ihv. curved chain of 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 129 

the Antilles. It is just opposite St. VinccDt ; St. Lucia 
lying a little to the NW., and Grenada about the same 
distance to the SW. ; Trinidad is about 300 miles 
to the south. Barbados is shaped like a j)ear, the 
stalk to the north, and in a dent on the bulged end, 
on the leeward side, lies Bridgetown, the port and chief 
town of the island. The ships anchor in an open 
roadstead called Carlisle Bay, after Lord Carlisle, who 
bought the island from the Earl of Marlborough in the 
time of James I., as will presently be related. Eleven 
miles farther north, on the leeward coast, is a small 
town called SpeightstoAvn, at which sailing ships used 
to call for sugar in the old days, but now that steamers 
carry so nmch of the freight it is all shipped in small 
sailing barges, called droghers, to Bridgetown, and 
there transferred to the steamers. There are no other 
towns, nor are there any villages as we know them 
in England, but the 1 200 people who cover each 
square mile of this crowded little island live in 
collections of huts on the different estates. There 
is no " village community " and no village common, 
though here and there there are ponds of stagnant 
water which used to serve the negroes for drinking 
and washing purposes before the establishment of the 
exceedingly good water service by the Government 
and local capitalists. This is however still in course of 
construction, and in a few places the negroes still resort 
to the ponds or to the estate windmill for their water; 
but along almost all the main roads — and there are 
hundreds of miles of them — there are standpipcs of 
fresh clear water every ndle or so. 

According to Foyer, Avho wrote a history of 
Barbados in 1808, the island does not appear on any 
chart before the year 1 600. It was conjectured by 
Ligon, who visited the island about 1650, that the 
" Portugals " had made use of it as a depot, according 
to their custom, and for this purpose had stocked it 
V I 



I30 GENERAL 

with swine and with a few vegetables for the use 
of their ships on their voyages to the gold-bearing 
islands farther west. It is natural that both they 
and the Spaniards should have neglected to acquire 
possession of a country that, having no precious metals 
or inhabitants who could be made use of as slaves, 
was of no manner of use to them except for the 
purpose above mentioned. 

But in 1605 the Olive, belonging to Sir Oliver 
Leigh, happened to put in to Barbados on her return 
from Guinea. Her sailors found no inhabitants in the 
island, but thick forest well stocked with wild hog, 
esteemed by Ligon, forty years later, to afford the 
sweetest flesh in the world. With these they jDrovi- 
sioned the Olive, and having erected a cross upon the 
coast and carved upon a tree the Avords " James, King 
of England and of this Island," and so taken possession 
of it in his name, they returned to London and 
made a report of all that they had seen. Twenty 
years later, a Dutch ship returned to Flanders with 
such a brilliant account of the island that Sir William 
Courteen, a great London merchant, hearing about 
it through his correspondent in Flanders, decided to 
send out a settlement. This he accordingly did, in 
two ships, but of these one only, the John and William, 
arrived. This expedition, though sent at the expense 
of Sir William Courteen, was under the patronage of 
the Earl of Marlborough, who had obtained a patent, 
or, as we should say now, the concession, for ex- 
ploiting the island. But the Earl of Carlisle owned 
the concession of the Caribbeo Islands, and claimed 
that the Earl nf Marlborough's operations would 
interfere with his ; and on the accession of Charles I., 
litigation was begun between the two Earls, which 
was settled for the time by the Earl of Carlisle agree- 
ing to pay to the Earl of Marlborough the sum of 
;{i^300 a year in perpetuity for the island of Barbados. 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 131 

The Earl of Carlisle departing ou a diplomatic 
mission, that astute monarch Charles I. presented 
the concession to Sir William Conrteen, and on the 
Earl's return gave it back to him. The only result 
to Sir William of this connection with the aristocracy 
was the sowing in the island of the seeds of civil 
dissension, wdiich sprang into life and flourished for 
many a long year, until finally stamped out by Oliver 
Cromwell. The story of the growth of this little 
commonwealth in the Atlantic Ocean is interesting, 
but it need not be continued here ; it is enough for us 
to notice that Barbados was first colonised by English- 
men, and has never belonged to any other Power. There 
is no evidence even to show that there has ever been 
an indigenous population in the island. Carib remains, 
such as earthenware pots and shell hatchets, &c., have 
been frequently found there, and some few of the 
places used in earlier days to be still called by their 
Indian names ; but it does not appear that the Indians 
ever lived there for more than a couple of months 
at a time, when they used to visit the island for the 
sake of the fishing. This fact has an important bear- 
ing on the subject of this paper, for with no native 
population accustomed to the tropical heat to assist 
them in their field-work, the English settlers found 
themselves obliged to have recourse to the importation 
of slaves from the other islands, both African and 
Indian, and on the introduction of the sucrar-cane 
the labour became so severe that African slaves had to 
be imported from Guinea. 

To the Portuguese belongs the credit, or discredit, 
of exporting the first slaves from Africa. In 1503 a 
few were sent from their African settlements to the 
Spanish colonies in America. In i 5 i i Ferdinand V. 
of Spain allowed a larger trade in this article to spring 
up, and after his death the humane Bishop of Chiapa, 
Bartholomew de Las Casas, to ease the sad case of the 



132 GENERAL 

Indian in the Spanish-American gold mines, proposed 
to Cardinal Ximenes, Regent of Spain tV)r Charles V., 
a regular system by which negroes might be carried 
across from Africa and sold to the Spanish colonists. 
But Cardinal Ximenes refused, on the ground of 
humanity, to adopt the course of action which Las Casas 
had proposed. Charles V,, however, on the death of 
the Cardinal, permitted a friend of his own to convey 
4000 negroes annually to the colonies ; that was in 
I 5 17, and in 1540 he revoked his permission, and 
ordered all the slaves to be set at liberty ! It is mar- 
vellous how business could ever have been successfully 
conducted in those good old days. If only 2000 
negroes had been imported every year, from i 5 1 7 to 
1540, at such a moderate value as .^15 apiece, here 
Avas property to the value of some i^7 00,000 suddenly 
lost in slaves alone, without counting all the accessories 
such as ships and slave warehouses, and the difficulty 
of replacing 46,000 servants. HoAvever, although the 
slaves were dutifully set free, in obedience to the orders 
of the Royal Commissioner Gasca, 3^et the moment 
he set out on his return to Spain thoy were all re- 
captured and set to work again as slaves. Shortly 
afterwards the king retired into a monastery, and from 
that time till the latter part of this century slavery 
flourished practically undisturbed in the Spanish 
colonies. 

But the conscience of the world never wholly 
slept. There seem always to have been some good 
men who refused to believe that any man has the 
right to become the absolute proprietor of another. 
Pope Leo X. was one of these, though he does not 
seem to have done more than publish his sentiments 
upon the subject. Queen Elizabetli Avont a little 
further, and plainly told Ca[)tain Hawkins what she 
thought about it, and forced him to declare he would 
never import anotlier negro into the West Indies; but 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 133 

he did not keep his promise. Louis XTTT. inquired 
into the matter, but being told that this was tlic 
best way of making them Christians, issued an edict 
that every negro coming into French territory should 
become ipso facto a slave. But as time went on the 
pul)lic conscience was thoroughly roused, and at last it 
spoke out through the months of Pope, Baxter, Sterne, 
Warburton, Addison, Postlethwaite, and Adam Smith, 
and from the poet, the parson, the man of business, 
and the thinker was evolved the philanthropist in the 
persons of Granville Sharp, Clarkson, and AVilbcrforce. 

The terrible legacy which this disgraceful traffic 
has left us will be examined later. It is necessary 
here to say a few words on the arguments that were 
brought forward for it and against it, a hundred years 
ago, Avlien the trade was finally stopped, as far as 
England was concerned, by Act of Parliament (1806). 

It nmst be remembered that the West Indian 
colonies in those days were a very long way from the 
Mother Country. There were no tourists spending 
three weeks on a continent, and writing a volume about 
it on the voyage home. Scarcely any one visited 
the West Indies who was not pecuniarily interested 
in the sugar plantations, and so in the price of labour, 
so that it is not surprising that objections to the slave- 
trade should come almost entirely from the poets, and 
thinkers, and preachers. These three classes, but 
especially perhaps the poets, are generally the first to 
discover a public sin ; but the public look upon the 
poets as dreamers, the thinkers as madmen, and the 
preachers as paid to preach to them, and they heed 
very little what they say. Thus the unfortunate 
slave — for, in spite of what I shall say later of the 
advantages to the negro of slavery, any person who 
is the property of another must be regarded as un- 
fortunate — came but little before the public eye, 
except in so far as he furnished a subject which the 



134 GENERAL 

poet might work up into a liarrowing story of innocent 
suffering, like Addison with " Inkle and Yarico," or as 
offering a proof to the political economist that free 
labour is cheaper than forced labour. He was, in 
fact, to the public an abstract idea, and it was not 
until a planter named David Lisle ill-treated his slave, 
Jonathan Strong, in London, and so brought Granville 
Sharp down upon him, that the facts of slavery took con- 
crete form in England at all. It is worth recording 
this incident somewhat fully, for it was the horror 
aroused in the public mind by the story of Lisle's 
cruelty that made emancipation possible. The slave- 
owners did not encourage their slaves to become 
Christians, because, as Ligon relates of one of them, 
they knew it was tlie law of the land that no Christian 
can be made a slave ; therefore if a slave be made a 
Christian he may cease to be a slave. But it so 
frequently happened that slaves who were brought 
over to England to wait on their masters got them- 
selves baptized and then claimed their freedom, that 
at last, in 1729, the planters obtained an opinion 
from Messrs. York and Talbot, the Attorney-General 
and the Solicitor-General, upon the question of their 
ceasing to be slaves as soon as they were baptized. 
These lawyers decided against the slaves, and slave- 
hunts became genei'al in London from that time till 
1765, when David Lisle brought Jonathan Strong 
over to London, and there so ill-treated him that his 
market value was destroyed, and he was not worth 
taking back to the plantations. Granville Sharp, how- 
ever, came across the poor wretch, took care of him, 
and in time completely cured him His old master 
learning this, now claimed him as his own, and had 
liini kidnapped in Fcncliurch Street, and sold him 
to John Kerr for ^^30 at the Poultrey Compter. 
With great difficulty Sharp got the case brought 
before the Lord Mayor, when York and Talbot's 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 135 

opinion had such weight that the decision would 
have been in favour of Kerr but that Strong' had 
been apprehended without a warrant. On this ground, 
jealous, no doubt, of his own i^rerogative, the Lord 
Mayor discharged him. In consequence of his success 
in this case, Sharp was so frequently called upon to 
interfere between master and slave that he decided to 
read the law on the subject, to enable him to confute 
the York and Talbot opinion, which he felt could not 
be the law of England. For three years then he read 
the law, and he embodied all he had learnt in a book, 
Avhich came to be cited by counsel in all slave cases 
in the London courts. Finally occurred the well-known 
case of Somerset, when the lawyers, determined not 
to rest content with magisterial rulings any longer, 
carried the case to the highest court, and obtained the 
judicial ruling that will last as long as the British 
Empire endures, that no man who sets his foot upon 
British soil can remain a slave. In 1806 an Act of 
Parliament was passed, the credit of which is due pre- 
eminently to Clarkson, putting a stop to the trade, and in 
I 834, by a further Act, a four years' apprenticeship was 
granted as a first instalment of the complete emanci- 
pation which followed in British colonies in 1838. 

Undoubtedly, as in all other great reformations, 
the reformers were led into very considerable exag- 
geration t)f the evils against which they struggled, 
and a great distinction must be drawn between the 
capture and importation of slaves and the continuance 
of slaves in a state of slavery. It may well be doubted 
whether the horrors of the middle passage were exag- 
gerated even by Clarkson, but that the lot of the 
children and grandchildren of slaves born on a planta- 
tion was worse, or even as bad, as that of the free 
indentured servant on the same estate, is more than 
doubtful, and it could certainly not have been more 
miserable than that of the agricultural labi)urer in 



136 GENERAL 

Europe at that time. Hear what Ligon says in 1650 : 
" The slaves and their posterity, being subject to their 
masters for ever, are liept and preserved with greater 
care than the servants, who are theirs but for five 
years, according to the law of the land, so that for the 
time the servants have the worser lives, for they are 
put to every hard labour, ill lodging, and their dyet is 
very sleight." There are few persons, even to-day, 
that will take as much care of a hired hack as they 
will of their own horse. Ligon represents them as a 
happy faithful lot, and he is much more surprised at 
the intelligence some of them exhibit than at their 
ignorance. They were looked upon as cattle, and were 
accounted for in the stock-book as such, their pedigree 
being written up as carefully as that of a prize bull, 
and their offspring recorded with the name and age 
both of sire and dam. Ligon speaks of them as being 
married, but it was not by a church ceremony. In 
those early days, however, it seems as if the husbands 
had some right over their wives, for if the unfortunate 
woman chanced to have twins it was reckoned a certain 
proof of her infidelity, and her husband promptly 
killed her. 

Against this idyllic state of happiness may be set 
off the legal status of the slave. Poyer, writing in 
1808, when the slave-trade had just been abolished 
and the agitation for emancipation was increasing, 
quotes a portion of the slave law of Barbados, enacted 
in 1688, and still in force at the time he wrote. He 
condemns the outcry against slaver}', a system which 
is capable of producing such a humane law as the 
following: " If any slave under punishment shall suffer 
in life or member, no one shall be liable to any fine 
for it. But if any person wantonly or cruelly kill his 
own slave, he shall pay into the Treasury ;^i 5." Com- 
menting on this law Poyer remarks that the punish- 
ment on the white murderer is greater than it appears 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 137 

to be, for he has ah-eady lt).st his slave, a property 
which no reasonable man would wilfully destroy. Ho 
says, moreover, that white men murder each other in 
Barbados far more often than they murder black men. 
In fact, " in thirty-four years there have been no 
authentic accounts of more than sixteen negroes killed 
by white men, and i)f these only six came within the 
legal description of that species of homicide which 
even the English criminal judicature would punish 
with death." 

The negro was of course bought and sold like 
caLlle. He was not allowed to marry or to become a 
Christian ; but unions that the master thought would 
be profitable to himself were arranged, sometimes be- 
tween black men and women, sometimes between black 
women and white men, and sometimes between black 
men and white women. The subject is an unpleasant 
one, but the condition of the coloured population 
cannot be understood without a thorough grasp of the 
facts connected with its origin. If the progeny rosult- 
ingr from the union of black and white Avere white and 
well-favoured, it was sometimes acknowledged, and, in 
Demerara, it might be legitimatised, but if it was 
dark and unlikely-looking, it was raised in the negro 
barracks as a slave. The brutal instincts of the slave- 
owner sometimes led him into still more horrible 
practices, many of which arc to be read in old books, 
leaving the certain inference that far more brutality 
escaped the knowledge of contemporaries than was 
chronicled by them. Of the 200.000 people in 
Barbados, probably not 200 are able to trace their 
parentage on both sides for more than two generations 
back, and of those 200 it is probable that not fifty can 
do so without finding a drop of coloured blood amongst 
them. There is said to be a far larger percentage oi' 
pure whites in Barbados than in any other part ot 
the West Indies. 



138 GENERAL 

English people will find it hard to realise the state 
of mind induced by these circumstances, where so 
many people know that they are ignorant of the 
details of their ancestry and are suspected by their 
friends of being coloured. And although the brutality 
which produced many of the coloured people was by 
no means accountable for the production of all, yet it 
deepened the feeling of shame that was attached to 
slave ]3arentage. Every coloured person has slave 
blood in him, but the only shameful fact about their 
parentage, in many cases, is that the marriage was 
polygamous, and legalised by custom, not by law or 
church. A similar shame attaches to the parentage of 
many of our great nobility in England. Nowadays, 
and for many generations back, the coloured people 
live, and have lived, lives as respectable as those of 
their white neighbours, so that it seems hard to re- 
member the sins or misfortunes of such remote fathers 
upon their children. Remembered, however, they are, 
and probably for a long time will be, and it is with 
this great fact we have to contend. The example of 
the English in Barbados is decidedly a strong factor in 
breaking down the barrier between white and coloured. 
The English have no fear that by mixing with coloured 
people they will fall under the suspicion of being 
coloured themselves, consequently where a coloured 
family is otherwise agreeable (and frequently this is 
the case) they mix with them as freely as they do 
with the white peo]ilc, and a few Barbadian families 
are beginning to follow their example, but unfor- 
tunately this is not always so, and cases are not 
unfrequent where a very white Barbadian family has 
been guilty of the most atrocious rudeness to avoid 
meeting coloured people, even though the coloured 
family may have been more highly cultivated and 
bettor bred than itself. The result of this feeling is 
that the coloured people, by nature self-conscious, live 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 139 

in a state of constant suspicion of the motives of the 
white [)eo[)le. They are ready to discover in every 
httle trillu a covert sneer at their colour, or a behttling 
of them before the piibUc. This is most unfortunate, 
as it is the earnest desire of every prudent white man 
in the island to work harmoniously with the coloured 
people, even if he does not wish to mix with all of 
them socially. But no on(; can blame the latter for 
being apt to misinterpret what is said and done by the 
whites ; contempt is the characteristic of the white 
man's attitude towards the coloured people, and those 
amongst them, who take the higher stand of showing 
to the coloured people the same respect that they 
show to the white ; are hated by the one set as black- 
legs, and by the other as humbugs. 

What the number of pure blacks is in Barbados 
it is impossible to say ; there is probably a greater per- 
centage of pure blacks amongst the blacks than there 
is of pure whites amongst the whites. It is an object of 
great ambition amongst the black women to have a 
" clear-skinned " child ; the legitimacy or illegitimacy 
of the means they adopt to this end does not appear 
to trouble them at all ; a mother will readily forgive 
her daughter's errors from the path of virtue if the 
result is " clear-skinned," and the whiter it is the more 
readily the forgiveness is granted, but errors of this 
sort with black men are looked upon as bad form. 
But this tendency on the part of the black women to 
raise themselves in the social scale through the colour 
of their children by no means prevents them from 
presenting their lawful husbands with their full share 
of black babies, and, judging by colour and by shape 
of features, I am inclined to think, as stated above, 
that the number of full blacks is considerable, though 
nothing like so great as that of the coloured people. 
In this matter I doubt wli ether statistics are very 
reliable, since, as we have seen, the desire is very strong 



I40 GENERAL 

among these people to make themselves out either 
white or ' clear-skinned," The proportion of children 
born in wedlock to those born out of it is three to 
seven in Jamaica, and I believe Barbados is as free 
from conventional usage in this matter as any other 
island. The women dislike matrimony, which state of 
mind is contrary to the nature of their European 
sisters (I am speaking of course of the black and 
coloured working-classes). They complain that as 
soon as the law has made them the chattel of their 
husbands, and they are no longer free to change owners, 
their husbands, no longer anxious as to their claim to 
the property, are apt to wander off and enjoy the society 
of their unconventional sisters, which no black man 
would dare to do if his regular companion instead of 
beins' his les^al wife was free to forsake him at the least 
sign of ill-treatment. It is the husband who, tired of 
being stretched continually on the rack of good be- 
haviour, exerts himself to secure freedom by submitting 
to the yoke of matrimony. It is to be observed that 
he, on his part, does not feel obliged to remain with the 
lady a moment longer than he pleases, whether he is 
married to her or not. This relaxation from legal 
restraint and conventional usage is recognised by the 
law, which gives a status to the " reputed wife " only a 
little lower than that of the " legal wife." 

Before we condenm the negroes for this failure to 
reach our high standard in civilisation we must reflect 
that they have only left the forests of Africa at the 
outside 400 years — most of them have been with 
us a luucli shorter time — and that the i^ermission 
to marry was only recently granted to them. It is 
unreasonable to expect negroes in three generations 
to assimilate the manners and customs which it has 
taken us tliirty generations to form. It is true that 
our actual lives arc not always in accordance with 
the high principles which we profess, but tlic point is 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 141 

that we liave arrived at that stage in civihsation 
where these high principles are professed. Tlie negro 
has not. When *we arrive at the stage where high 
principles are invariably followed, the millennium w^ill 
have arrived, and the conditions of life as we now 
know them will have ceased to be. The ]3oint that 
I wish to emphasise is that we must not expect from 
negroes the same manner of life that we expect from 
Europeans. 

A hundred years ago, as we have seen, the world 
woke up to the fact that negroes w-ere men and not 
cattle, and that they had the same hopes of eternal life 
that we had ; that the Redemption of Jesus Christ was 
as important to them as it was to us ; and from this 
now undenied fact it was deduced they deserved the 
same political privileges as ours. But the world did 
not find this deduction as easy of assimilation as the 
principle from Avhich it was deduced. Some people 
even objected to their being granted souls. But the 
granting of a soul, being a more remote transaction, 
was more easily concurred in than the granting of a 
vote. A seat in Heaven did not jar so harshly on our 
feelings as a seat in the House of Assembly. Even the 
seat in the House of God was grudgingl}^ given, and 
placed — where it still is- — well at the back of the 
church. Since those days, however, emancipation has 
continued its course, and the seat in the House of 
Assembly has been given also, and the negro maintains 
that he is perfectly fit to fill it. Arguing from the 
]>articular to the general, he points with reasonable 
exultation to the achievements of individuals of his 
race, which, if they were common amongst it, would 
justify his argument that political poAver can be en- 
trusted as safely to blacks as to wdiites. He points to 
the admitted failure of one amongst a thousand whites, 
and compares his folly and his wrongdoings witli the 
virtuous prudence of one black brother amongst half- 



142 GENERAL 

a-dozen. He receives your reluctant admission of the 
justice of his comparison, and expects you to admit, in 
consequence, the deduction that he makes from it, that 
all black men are equal to all white men. Your refusal 
to do so is a further proof to him that you share the 
deplorable prejudice entertained by the whites against 
the blacks. It is a misfortune that neither in our com- 
mercial nor in our governmental representatives do we 
always show to our West Indian fellow-subjects the 
most favourable types of our race. In the present un- 
interesting condition of the West Indies this is, perhaps, 
unavoidable ; but when Africa has been tilled up, and 
Canada and Australia no loager call for more capital, 
the world will remember that the West Indies and the 
Spanish Main are still the richest countries in the 
world, and will return thither. Then, no doubt, if 
England still exists as an empire, as much care will be 
exercised in the choice of West Indian governors as is 
now used in the appointments to Australia or South 
Africa. The West Indies, at present, are in the posi- 
tion of a poor relation ; we cannot pretend that we do 
not see them as we pass them in the street, but they 
can be of no service to us, and we regret their exist- 
ence, for our dignity requires that they should be kept 
out of the bankruptcy court, so we throw them an 
occasional dole, and we ask them to come in after 
dinner on any specially big family festivity like the 
Jubilee, but that is about as far as we care to go. 
There are amongst us, however, some who have theories, 
and who are thereby led to the conclusion that the 
black people are increasing and the whites diminishing, 
and that the time is not far distant when the West 
Indies will be one big black Republic or set of Re- 
publics. Others fear that the hurricanes that periodi- 
cally visit these islands, and the disaster that has 
overtaken the sugar industry, are a danger to llie 
black people whom we have placed where they are, 



THE NEGKO IN BARBADOS 143 

and for whose safety and well-being we are therefore 
responsible. To these two sets of theorists, both of 
which cannot be correct in their forecast, the West 
Indies are still of interest. 

That the blacks are increasing, though it is gene- 
rally asserted they are, is to ]ny mind exceedingly 
doubtful, and, if they arc, it does not necessarily follow 
that they will continue to increase. In 1834 there 
were 83,176 slaves for whom compensation was given 
at the emancipation. Did that include children ? 
There are now about 105,000 black persons, a very 
small increase considering the circumstances. Doctors 
in the West Indies seem to incline to the opinion 
that they have reached that point in national 
life when, whatever the number of births, the 
vitality of those born is low. They seem to 
sufi'er greatly from consumption. Amongst the 
soldiers five die of this disease to one of any other. 
They also die of yellow fever and of malaria, which 
last they get in the cold weather, not, as the whites do, 
in the latter months of the hot weather. It is to be 
noted that in their own country, unfettered by the 
clothes and other restraints of civilisation, they are 
much more free from these diseases than arc the 
Europeans ; it is only when they have lived a few 
generations in civilised countries that they are affected. 
It is sug'o-ested that the tigflit uniform of the soldiers 
increases their liability to consumption, which begins 
at the base of the lungs ; but I believe the civilian 
blacks are just as liable to it as the soldiers, and their 
clothino- is loose enousrh. The civilians are accustomed 
to sleep, ten or fifteen together, in a small hut ten feet 
square, with every aperture carefully shut and closed 
with rags to keep out the fresh air, and their con- 
sumption has been attributed to this cause. But it 
cannot be this that affects the soldiers, sleeping as 
they do in airy, well-ventilated barracks, and I am 



144 GENERAL 

rather inclined to look to their sudden transplantation 
from Africa for the cause of the lessened vitality 
amongst the blacks. Naturalists say that man is 
the only animal that can live in all parts of the 
world without changing his looks or his nature. 
Sheep transplanted to the West Indies lose their wool 
in a generation or two, English potatoes become sweet 
in a couple of years, but the descendants of Cromwell's 
deported prisoners, who never mixed with the black 
people, are still fishing on the coast of Barbados. The 
people, it is true, are many of them scrofulous now, 
but I imagine that is from the continual intermarriage 
of four centuries. The negro, however, is so infinitely 
below the European in the scale of humanity, that it 
is quite possible he has not the distinctly human 
quality of adaptability to varying climates. I say this 
with the greatest deference to that part of the mis- 
sionary world which stays at home, whose cry that the 
negro is a man and a brother I can accept only in its 
Pickwickian sense. Whether he has or has not as 
perfect a soul as the white man I do not know, and 
I should imagine it would be an extremely difficidt 
thing to prove or to disprove ; nor, perhaps, is it of 
great importance to the present purpose ; but that, as 
a man, he is physically inferior to Europeans can be 
seen in the records of any West Indian hospital. This 
being so, there does not appear to be any need to fear 
his overrunning the West Indies, I am more inclined 
to fear that he will die out altogether. It must not 
be forgotten that the experiment of leaving him to 
shift for himself is a new one. Even in Barbados 
there are plenty of men living who were born slaves, 
mill there are very foAv black men whose parents were 
not slaves. Now the* slave had by no means such a 
bad time of it as people in England imagine. " Uncle 
Tom's Cabin," from which we got our ideas of slavery, 
))io1uro(l one side of it in a inastcrly way, and attained 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 145 

the object for which it was wiitten. I read the book 
as a boy, and cried over it. I took it up the other 
day, and finding negroes depicted with strong family 
affection, 1 put it down again. Negroes have no family 
affection. On the morning after the hurricane in 
September 1898 some negroes, passing by a heap of 
fallen huts, found a crowd at work on it, and the pro- 
prietor sitting on a log smoking. " Whar's your wife, 
Gustus ? " they asked. The smoker pointed with his 
pipe to the ruins. " Dere, the roof have fall on she ; 
dey still diggin' she out." A nurse, who was remark- 
ably gentle and kind to her white mistress's children, 
used to ask, very occasionally, for leave to go and see 
her old mother. Once finding she had not asked for 
leave for a long time, her mistress said, " How's your 
mother, Margaret ? Don't you want to go and see 
her ? " The old woman burst into a laugh and said, 
'■ Why, she in bed now. She don't know nobody. 
She no good now." And a coachman, who went to 
attend to his dying mother, returned after a week dis- 
gusted, and coiiiplained that " she Avon't dead, so I come 
back." But it was in his family affections that it was 
thought the slave was hardest hit. The slave had to 
work, but his owner had to maintain him, and give 
him clothes and shelter when he was ill and when he 
was old. The free labourer is free to change his em- 
ployers, but if work is scarce he is also free to starve ; 
nor is he of such value to his temporary master. 
The negroes still work in gangs under an overseer with a 
whip, though the whip is more a badge of office than a 
weapon. The place of the whip, however, has been 
taken by the police court, and that weapon is employed 
in a manner and to an extent that, to any one but a 
negro, would be galling in the extreme. Slavery 
had its bad points, but I am doubtful whether, 
from the slave's point of view, they were not fully 
compensated for by its good points. It was the 
V K 



146 GENERAL 

masters who suffered. Slave labour was much more 
expensive than free labour, and he suffered morally in 
the degrading influence that absolute authority over 
his fellow-creatures always has upon men. Some 
aspects of this degradation have already been men- 
tioned. The imported slave, on the other hand, had 
been in nine cases out of ten (in spite of Longfellow) a 
slave in his own country ; and slavery in his own 
country, besides the usual troubles attendant on being 
the property of some one else, implied this further in- 
convenience, that he was liable to be roasted or boiled, 
or impaled, or buried alive, or anything else that suited 
his master's fancy. He would certainly not be fed 
when he was old or useless. It was no degradation to 
him and his womenkind, in his eyes, to be sold at 
public auction ; he was used to it. He did not feel the 
separation from his wife and family any more than a 
dog does. His women probably felt the separation 
from their young children in much the ^me way, and 
for the same time, that a cow does when her calf is 
taken from her. The slaves bred on a plantation had 
never known any other existence, and, according to the 
universal law, were content with their lot. The im- 
ported slaves appear to me to have been raised, rather 
than lowered, by then* transplantation into the West 
Indies. The owners were the losers by the transaction. 
Probably nothing in the history of the world illustrates 
better Gibbon's saying that a conquering race always 
assimilates the vices of tlic conquered than the degra- 
dation of the slave-owners by their own slaves. 

Now the slaves are free, and they have to compete 
for existence with their former masters. It remains to 
be seen what success they will have. I, certainly, am 
not one of those who believe that the white race is 
played out in the West Indies, still less that the blacks 
are ready to take our place, or indeed to assist us in 
any way but as hewers of wood and drawers of water, 



THE NEGRO IN BARBADOS 147 

and that for even these purposes they are becoming in 
every generation less fit scorns evident. 

What our duty to these black people may be is the 
second question that is agitating the minds of some of 
us. It seems to me to depend a good deal upon 
whether our fathers did them any harm by bringing 
them over to the West Indies, and whether, if our 
fathers did wrong them, we are liable to provide com- 
pensation. That they have as great a claim on the 
protection of the Empire as their fellow-subjects is, of 
course, obvious, but some well-meaning people seem to 
believe that they have a greater claim on our assist- 
ance than their fellow-subjects have. The negro has 
not advanced far in morality beyond the condition of 
his savage fathers, and his physical health has dete- 
riorated, but his condition seems still to be better than 
it used to bo in Africa ; he is certainly happy enough, 
if that is any criterion, so it is difficult to understand 
how any compensation can be claimed for him, or what 
form it should take if it could. If I supported the 
claim that he deserves special protection from us, it 
would only be on the plea that he is as fully entitled 
to citizenship as we are (by our own voluntary act), 
but is in every way so greatly inferior to us that, as 
men, we must consider his infirmities and be gentle to 
him, as we are to our own women and children. But 
if the negro insists upon being treated as an equal, let 
him take his chance. 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE OF TO-DAY 
AND TO-MORROW 

By Sir C. E. HOWARD VINCENT, K.C.M.G., C.B., M.P. 

The only condition precedent to our subject of the 
Empire of to-morrow is that those of to-day should 
recognise their duty, not to themselves alone, but to 
those who will come after them. What is the heritage 
to which we have succeeded ? Whether it be sur- 
veyed by its territorial extent, by the numbers of its 
peoples, by the diversity* of its climates, by the mag- 
nitude of its commerce, by the liberty and loyalty of 
its inhabitants, nothing that has ever been in the 
past, nothing that appears possible in the future, can 
in any way compare to it. Greece and Rome were in- 
significant in comparison, Spain and the Netherlands 
were as nothing by the side of the Britain of to-day. 
The Caesars were as careless of to-morrow as the Court 
of Madrid. Our chance is now. The occasion is ripe. 
The fruit is ready to our hand. We grasp it, and 
leave for to-morrow an Empire in the homogeneous 
strength of which that of to-day shall pale and 
which, self-sustaining, self-supporting, shall eclipse all 
the world and be Mistress of the Land as well as, 
now, Mistress of the Sea. 

Ere we see what needs to be done to accomplish 
this end — an end there is none worthy to bear the 
name of Englishman who will not sacrifice everything 
to attain — let us briefly look at the Empire of to-day. 
It is a study which idl may indulge in with advan- 
tage, which it is the bounden duty of every father of 

14S 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 149 

a fainily, every manager of a school, to inculcate on 
all within their spheres of influence. The classics 
are being fast displaced in education by the modern 
school, and Greek play and Latin verse are yielding 
to French colloquial style and German composition. 
This is something to be thankful for. But many a boy 
and girl leaves the British schoolroom with but hazy 
ideas of the lands they were born to share with 
the Queen's subjects. On the walls of every school- 
room should hang Keith Johnson's map of the Empire, 
so that it may become impressed on young eyes and 
young hearts. 

See the three million square miles in British 
North America, stretching from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific through endless forest, through mountains of 
precious ores, and yet with a virgin wheat land, 
destined for the granary of Britain — a territory larger 
than the United States, with people, the bravest and 
the most loyal on the face of the earth. 

See the three million square miles in Australasia, 
teeming with gold and coal, with unequalled pastures 
for the meat supply of the old land, Avitli every ad- 
vantage, natural or artificial, the ingenuity of man can 
hnagine or devise. 

See the vast territories on the East and West and 
in the South of Afiica. Shall we be turned aside by 
a chapter of accidents, by the headlong impetuosity of 
one man, by the obstinacy and hostility of another, by 
the difficulties of an hour, from recognising all that the 
future has in store for that vast region ? 

See the Empire of India, nineteen hundred miles 
in length, as much in breadth, and ever increasing its 
lateral frontiers. The five hundred allied princes, their 
three hundred millions of people, disagreeing among 
themselves, with religion against religion, race against 
race, but united in affection and loyal obedience to the 
Imperial Crown set on the head of Victoria Empress. 



ISO GENERAL 

See the islands, the fortified posts, the coaUng 
stations in every sea. We need not the stirring words 
of the American Statesman to fill us Avith pride and 
admiration at possessions so matchless — and this 
whether the survey be of the beautiful West Indian 
Oceana set in the Caribbean Sea, or of the continents 
and territories in the Old World and the New. 

We see the whole connected with each other and 
the Mother Country, if not always by fortress, like 
Gibraltar holding the key of the Mediterranean, like 
Aden holding the key of the Red Sea, like Singapore 
and Hong Kong in the Indian Ocean and China Sea, 
at least by coaling stations holding the reserves of fuel 
without which neither France nor Germany, neither 
Holland nor Spain, can reach their oversea possessions. 

Small wonder that any Empire such as this should 
excite the envy and the admiration of the world. But 
is it in such state that we of to-day can leave things 
as they are. Should not we strive every nerve to in- 
crease and improve mutual trade, to perfect defences, 
to make the Empire more independent, a greater power 
than noAv in peace and in war ? It is our duty to act 
while we may, to strike while the iron is hot in the 
fashioning of the Empire of to-morrow. 

First as to defence. The United Kingdom, the 
Mother Country, finds the sea defences for the wliole, 
save that of the ports in Australasia and India. The 
land defences are provided locally, save that in any 
emergency the reinforcement b}^ Imperial troops is 
essential. Some have sought to place this matter of 
defence upon a mere pecimiary basis. A league indeed 
exists to impress upon the British Pul)lic that they 
should call on the Colonics to pay for the protection 
afforded in colonial waters, in the same way that India 
pays for the English army of defence within the 
Indian frontier. This view may have something to 
commend itself upon a strict commercial basis, but it 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 151 

is too narrow, savours too iriucli of self-interest, to 
serve as a foundation upon which to build a greater 
Empire. Far better would it be for us to choose or 
to recommend the very best officers available for the 
organisation of colonial land and sea forces, and to 
make all the armies of the Empire, and all the vessels 
of war equipped by colonial governments, as uniform 
and efficient as possible, and to take care that no 
punctilious etiquette, that no divided authority, should 
serve the future enemies of England, by neglect of the 
smallest precaution to keep inviolate and secure not 
alone the territory of the Empire, but also the trade 
routes which constitute its life. 

But cannot more be done than this ? Most 
assuredly yes. It is true that the United Empire 
Trade Leauue has not been afraid to seize the nettle. 
It had its origin in the emphatic declaration of the 
most eminent representatives of the Empire at the first 
Colonial Conference in 1887. Victoria and Cape 
Colony, South Australia and Natal, New Zealand and 
Queensland were all equally eloquent, equally convinced 
that the closer union of the Empire must be sought in 
trade, and in trade alone. Efforts failing to convince 
the Council of the Imperial Federation League a new 
organisation became essential, and its strength Avas 
soon demonstrated in the speedy demise of its elder 
sister. Lord Salisbury invited the League " to go forth 
to fight." It obeyed. Town after town, constituency 
after constituency in Great Britain, in Canada, and 
to some extent in Australia and South Africa too, 
was assailed and carried. The Dominion Government 
in 1894 convened a Colonial Conference at Ottawa. 
The result left nothing to be desired. There was great 
enthusiasm and absolute unanimity upon the main 
question, "That any provisions in existing treaties 
between Great Britain and any foreign Power which 
prevent the self-governing dependencies of the Empire 



152 GENERAL 

from entering into agreements Avitli each other or with 
Great Britain should be removed." 

This has been done. On August i, 1S98, the 
treaties with Belgium and Germany came to an end. 
That day British goods entered Canada at one-fourth 
reduction in the duties on foreim groods, and in the 
first year their sale was increased 22 per cent. 

And now what do we find ? Not only that all 
men's minds within the Empire have been directed to 
the position of the Empire by the menacing attitude of 
foreign Powers, by the near approach of war not from 
one quarter but from many, but also by the outbreak 
of Avar within the Empire. 

The question is noAV the centre pivot of practical 
politics. A considerable motive power has been the 
perceptive and statesman mind of Mr. Secretary 
Chamberlain. A great party and capable leaders are 
working heart and soul together. The troops of 
Canada and Australasia are fighting by the side of 
those of Great Britain, vexed only to be limited as 
to numbers and the extent of the freely furnished. 

But, nevertheless, there is the Empire of to-day, 
immense in population, in extent, in trade, in wealth, 
in loyalty, and in liberty, but, save as regards the 
noble Dominion of Canada, Avilli no permanent union 
between its Avidely scattered areas, save that of affec- 
tion for the One Sovereign, and the feeling of kinship ; 
with no organised system of nuitual trading, or of 
mutual defence able to sustain itself in peace or in 
war, the superfluities of the one part able to supply 
the deficiencies of another, but offering, save in 
Canada, no greater advantages to the British people 
who founded il, than to foreigners who o})posed its 
creation and are envious of its progress. 

The Em])ire of to-morroAv should see all this welded 
into a homogeneous and systematised whole, the British 
pco{)le utilising to the full for their own benefit and 



THE BRITISH EMPIRE 153 

advantage the advantages ready to their hand, the 
Colonies feeding the Mother Country, the Mother 
Country enjoying in return a trading advantage in 
the Colonies. 

Now, separation, independence, means what? a 
pang of regret for a day, but little more. 

Then it would mean the loss of the greatest and 
most material interests. 

Sentiment is good, but interest is better. Thus may 
an United Empire " be organised, one may almost say 
created," to use Mr. Chamberlain's words, " greater and 
more potent for the peace and civilisation of the world 
than any that history has ever known." 

This is the task of the United Empire Trade 
League. Heads are wanted, hands are Avanted, in 
every town, in every village, in every hamlet, in every 
mansion, in every cottage of the Empire. We call 
upon to-day to work for to-morrow — ^to realise a dream 
if you like, but a dream of which no man need be 
ashamed, to 

"Unite the Empire, make it stand compact, 
Slioukler to shoulder, let its members feel 
The touch of British brotlierliood ; and act 
As one great nation — strong and true as steel." 



THE BRITISH NAVY 

By J. CORNELIUS WHEELER 

There is nothing more extraordinary in the history 
of great nations than the apathy and ignorance which 
existed until a few years ago in this country upon all 
things connected with the history and position of the 
British navy. We had a huge empire, and we did not 
seem to be aware of it. We had vast colonial posses- 
sions, and if we thought of them at all, it was merely 
coupled with the wish that the day should dawn when 
we could finally get rid of them. The marvellous elas- 
ticity and magnitude of our commerce did indeed thrill 
the average Briton with a certain amount of patriotic 
pride, because it enabled him to count up his money- 
bags and contemplate his material prosperity. We 
sang " Britannia Rules the Waves," and imagined that 
it was a law of Nature, forgetful of the fact that it 
depended upon our ships, our guns, our coaling stations, 
our coal supplies, our armour, our men, and the spirit 
that actuated them from the quarter-deck to the 
forecastle. 

Fifteen years ago the fleet was less than half 
its present strength, and Lord Northbrook, at that 
time First Lord of the Admiralty, speaking in the 
House of Lords, declared that if he had another 
million of money to spend on the navy he should not 
know what to do with it, and within a month of that 
time he asked for five millions ! 

There is a story told of another First Lord who 
was asked by some Member of Parliament of an 



154 



THE BRITISH NAVY i55 

inquiring turn of niiud whether certain guns which 
had been ordered some years before for the defence of 
Singapore had ever been sent out there. The minister 
knew perfectly well that they were lying in the dock- 
yard at Sheerness, and, according to the way Avhich 
they have in the House of Commons when a minister 
is asked inconvenient questions, he requested notice of 
it. He went to his office the next day and ordered 
these guns to be put upon lighters in the Thames, and 
that night, from his seat on the Treasury Bench, 
replying to the question in the presence of the repre- 
sentatives of the people, and through them speaking 
to the nation, whose best interests were committed to 
his care, he stated that the guns were on their way to 
Singapore ! Everybody was perfectly contented, for 
did not Britannia rule the waves ? 

No doubt the state of affairs which made that kind 
of thing possible has by this time passed away, but it 
was only owing to the action of a few individuals and 
of an enterprising ncAvspaper or two, who looked 
beyond the House of Commons and the Board of 
Admiralty to the outside public, that a sounder and a 
saner line of policy is now adopted by whatever 
government may be in power at the time. So soon 
as public interest in these questions begins to flag, so 
soon will the Treasury once more bear down the 
requirements of the nation ; and so long as there are 
ministers who will endeavour to make up for their 
deficiency in one department by economies at the 
expense of the fleet, so long it is essential, if we are 
to continue our existence as a great, world-wide empire, 
that we must see to it that far and above all questions 
of party politics and all the issues upon which so many 
an election has turned, and will continue to turn, lies 
the supremacy of the British fleet and the safety of 
the British race. 

We have lately seen an extraordinary manifestation 



156 GENERAL 

of the best side of the imperiahst idea, not in any way 
aggressive, and in no manner endeavouring to threaten 
the interests of other nations ; but the whole of the 
EngHsh people has been suddenly roused to the idea 
of what it is that the courage and energy of their 
ancestors have won for them, and the meaning of the 
splendid possibilities that lie in front of us. No inci- 
dent in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations more closely 
touched the popular imagination than the spectacle 
of armed men, representatives of the soldiers of the 
Queen in the lands from which they came, hurrying 
by every route on British ships across the connecting 
link — the ocean — in order to lay their tribute of 
loyalty at the feet of their sovereign in the very central 
city of the empire. 

" I have to-day received the offer of a British 
ironclad from the hands of a British colony," were the 
words uttered by Lord Goschen at a club in London one 
night in that famous June, and they are words that 
ought to be engraved in letters of gold " plain for all 
folk to see," as the most epoch-making announcement 
that a minister has ever yet been privileged to pro- 
nounce. It is probable that there are Kaisers and 
Czars who would give many a Pomeranian grenadier 
for a colony that can mean so great an increase in the 
offensive and defensive resources of an empire. It is 
incidents of this kind, which are being repeated from 
time to lime with ever-increasing emphasis, that show 
us that the English people have at last appreciated 
what the infiuenco of sea power means to them and 
the part that it is going to enable them to play in the 
future development of the race, which of all others 
is destined to be the predominant race in both 
hemispheres. 

Now foreign nations are following very closely 
(and have for ii long time past) the efforts made by 
this country to put itself in such a position that it will 



THE BRITISH NAVY 157 

bo able Lo defeud its interests in case of war ; and the 
foreign service papers from time to time are good 
enough to tell us what is the plan of campaign by 
which it is probable that we shall be brought most 
quickly to our knees. It is recognised that to attack 
us in the open, and to bear us down by sheer force 
in battle, is not a policy which is likely to lead 
to success, and a school of naval strategists has 
arisen whose idea is to build fast cruisers with an 
enormous coal capacity, which shall prey upon our 
commerce, and in that way force us to terms ; and they 
even confer an additional obligation upon us, do some 
of these gentlemen, because they tell us what are the 
terms which they will be good enough to grant when, 
having beaten us, we beg for peace upon our knees. 

A French paper, called Essai de Stratdgie, after 
stating that there are no laws of war but those of 
the strongest, and that generosity is only cowardice, 
feebleness, or folly, lays down the French campaign as 
follows : ( I ) Raid the Bristol Channel, the Channel, 
and the Thauies with fast cruisers; (2) Destroy English 
shipping in the Mediterranean; (3) Plunder, burn, 
and sink English shipping on the distant seas ; (4) 
Bombard at night defenceless towns, such as Brighton 
or Hastings. Since we wish it, they tell us, their 
cruisers, their gunboats and their torpedo boats shall 
burn our towns. 

Plus d'Angleterre gives the terms upon which we 
shall be able to purchase peace : Every English war- 
ship afloat, or on the stocks, to be surrendered to 
France. Not more than fifty warships to be main- 
tained by us in the future. Our army not to exceed 
50,000 men. An indemnity of ;^ 5 60,000,000 to be 
paid. Dover to be surrendered to France in per- 
petuity. The Channel Isles, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, 
Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, the Cape, Mauritius, the 
Seychelles, Amirantes and Chagos, Aden, Perim, Soco- 



158 GENERAL 

tra, Ceylon, Hong Kong, New Guinea, New Zealand, 
Tasmania. Fiji. Vancouver, British Guiana, the British 
West Indies, Quebec and Newfoundland to be ceded 
to France. Egypt to be evacuated. The Egyptian 
Antiquities and Elgin Marbles in the British Museum 
to be given up to France. It is added that Russia 
had made herself mistress of the best part of India 
whilst we were thus fighting for our lives, and that 
Ireland had become an independent republic under 
the protection of France. When the terms were read 
out at the Guildhall " there followed the deep silence 
of the grave, there were tears in the eyes of the 
English." And well there might be. 

You may say that these terms are preposterous, 
and that it is impossible that we should be reduced 
to such straits, but at any rate, whether that be 
so or no, the fact remains, that these are only some 
of the vast territories that we have to defend, and 
if no terms so humiliating have ever before been 
made to a conquered people, it is only that never 
before in the history of the world has any nation had 
so much to lose. 

You will recollect that navies nowadays are 
divided practically into four classes. There is the 
ironclad, or battleship of various ranks, upon the 
efficiency of which the pitched battles at sea will 
depend. There are the cruisers, of various classes, 
which are meant to protect trading ships on the 
high seas, and to take the place of the frigate of 
bygone days. There is the torpedo boat, Avhicli is 
designed to destroy indiscriminately either battleships 
or cruisers whenever it can come up to them ; and 
there is the EngHsh antidote to the torpedo boat, 
called the " torpedo boat destroyer," whose purpose it 
is to chase the torpedo boats and overtake them, for 
wbicli purpose they are of extraordinary speed. 

Tlie total number of torpedo boat destroyers is 



THE BRITISH NAVY 159 

now 1 1 3. Forty-two have trial speeds of twenty-six 
to twenty-seven knots, and the Avhole of the 1 1 3 
now have water- tube boilers of the small tube, or 
Express type. Of the thirty-knot vessels fifty-eight 
have been delivered. Five destroyers have done over 
thirty loiots on their trial speeds, the Viper, fitted 
with the Parsons' steam turbine, attaining 33I knots,^ 
combined with an entire absence of vibration. 

The Naval Estimates for 190 1-2 provide for five 
submarine vessels of the Holland type, and this is the 
first time in the history of the English navy that any 
attempt has been made by the Admiralty to seriously 
consider the question of submarine boats. The French 
navy have thirty-seven submarine boats, built and 
building. 

The efficiency of a fleet to a very large extent 
depends upon the amount of time that it can keep 
at sea, and that is a question of its coal capacity, 
although speed is also of the utmost importance. In 
the old days a fleet could remain at sea almost indefi- 
nitely. Nelson, for instance, was two years outside 
Toulon harbour watching the French fleet ; and al- 
thousjfh it is true that at the end of that time some of 

o 

his ships were scarcely seaworthy, still they managed 
to keep afloat and to prove of very great service when 
the need arose, because all that they required from 
the shore was supplies of food and ammunition, which 
were obtained by despatching ships from time to time to 
get them. In fact, Trafalgar was brought on by Nelson 
despatching half-a-dozen of his ships to obtain food 
supplies and repairs which were absolutely essential and 
could not be done at sea, and the French Admiral Ville- 
neuve took advantage of this as the most favourable 
time to come out of harbour and meet the English 
admiral. Fleets will act very differently in the 

^ This vessel was totally wrecked oH" the Channel Islands in the 
naval mauoeuvres of 1901. 



i6o GENERAL 

future. You have read of the Poiverfid consum- 
ing something Hke 1 2,000 tons of coal on her way 
to China. Well, the Poiverfid, with her sister ship 
the Terrible, has a greater coal capacity than any 
other ship in the world. They, both of them, 
carry 3000 tons in their bunkers; but even that pre- 
vents them going for any length of time away from 
their coaling stations wherever they may be, and 
severely restricts their usefulness in time of war. 
Luckily the best coaling stations all over the world 
are in our hands ; and if we were at war with any 
other nation, by refusing to sell that essential com- 
modity to them, we could make it impossible for 
many of them ever to get back to their native land 
at all. And in this Avay the task of the British 
navy is very considerably simplified, because by 
watching the entrance to the enemies' harbours we 
know perfectly well that we are bound to come up 
with their fleets sooner or later, and we should not 
have to spend months of weary watching looking out 
for their ships as Nelson had to do in that historic 
but heart-breaking chase which only ended in the 
sublime triumph of the Nile itself. 

When the Kaiser, at that time not on very good 
terms with the English people, sent out the mailed 
fist, in the shape of the Gefion, to vindicate his dignity 
in China, it was only by a frequent resort to English 
coaling stations and English dockyards that the ship 
managed to get to her destination at all. So you will 
see, should a foreign country be at war with us the 
seas would be closed to an enemy who had not 
coaling stations and dockyards at convenient points. 

In foreign navies you find the Rossia and Rurik, 
which are Russian ships w'ith a coal capacity of 2500 
tons. The Columbia and Minneapolis in the Unitetl 
States navy, the Chateau Renaidt and the Guichan in 
the French navy are of the same type, but none of 



THE lUUTISll NAVY i6i 

them have such large coal capacities as the Fowerfxd 
or the Tcrrihlc, and therefore their usciulness is 
greatly diiiiiuished. In the wars of the future, the 
nation which is able to stay at sea the longest, and 
which has well-fortitied harbours and coaling stations at 
the strategic points of the world, will have an enormous 
advantage when the fighting begins. Not oidy have 
we got coaliijg stations at strategic points, but we also 
have docks and ports in strength and in importance 
infinitely greater than those of any other nation, with 
the exception of France in the Mediterranean. In 
the Mediterranean, the French have their splendid 
series of harbours along the coast. They have great 
harbours at Tunis, and others along their North 
African possessions, in many of which their fleets 
can lie in safety. We have, it is true, Gibraltar with 
two docks, which takes in the biggest ironclad afloat ; 
and in a few years time we shall have four there. 
Our next large dock is at Malta, a thousand miles 
away from Gibraltar, and the nearest home port is 
Devonport, which is farther still, where two ships of 
the largest class only can be docked. 

It is in that sea and off the coast of Spain that 
many of the great battles of the past have been fought, 
and where, in any European Naval War, a pitched 
battle for the supremacy of the seas will, probably, 
b(! lost or won. We laiow what happened after Tra- 
falgar. Scarcely any of the prizes that were taken 
were retained, because in the gale that sprang up 
inuiiodiately after the battle they went to the bottom ; 
and if this is the case with a Avooden ship, how much 
more likely is it to bo the case with the far more ex- 
pensive ironclads of the present day. When one 
reflects that convenient harbours into which to run the 
injured vessels after an engagement may mean the 
salvation of half-a-dozen great ironclads, which cost 
something like a million of money each, it is clear 
V L 



1 62 GENERAL 

that no more important problem faces the Board of 
Admiralty than this ; and even if it costs large sums 
of money to secure it, it will be money well spent, 
and as vital to the success of a great war as proper 
hospital accommodation and a medical staff would be 
to an army. We were told not long ago that the 
Polyphemus was leaking badly when she put in at 
Devonport, but there was no available dock there for 
her, and she was accordingly sent up Channel in a 
gale of wind to Portsmouth. Providentially she arrived 
safely at her destination, but it emphasises the point 
which I am endeavouring to make, that to subject 
ships that have just come out of action to a long sea 
voyage, perhaps in bad weather, before they can arrive 
at places where the repairs can be effected which are 
essential to keep them afloat, is folly so pronounced as 
to have no words to adequately describe it. 

I stated just now that it is probable that the fate 
of England will one day be decided in the Mediter- 
ranean. It is a great trade route ; one of the greatest 
in the world, a highway to the " gorgeous East." 
Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexandria are three vital links 
in the chain that holds the Empire together. Its im- 
portance has been recognised by every European 
statesman for two hundred years and more, and that 
is why of your small army you have some 9000 men 
at Malta and 5000 or 6000 at Gibraltar. 

We have endeavoured for over a hundred years 
to keep Russian fleets from coming into the Mediter- 
ranean down the Bosphorus. It was one of the 
provisions of the treaty after the Crimean War which 
the Russians broke without a protest from this 
country when France was flghting Prussia in 1870. 
There is an intimate alliance between France and 
Russia at tlie present day, and at one end of that 
narrow sea we are exposed to the attack of the 
Russian fleet, with its l)asc in the Black Sea, at the 



THE BRITISH NAVY 163 

other end of it the French fleet, with all the orreat 
natural advantages I have mentioned to you. 

Take a map in your hand and look then how 
easy it would be for either of these two allied Powers, 
neither of which is very friendly to this country, to 
cut the line of your communications by falling on a 
British fleet cruising in the Mediterranean, anywhere 
from Gibraltar to Alexandria ; to attack them with 
the certain knowledge that if the attack was successful 
an irreparable blow would have been struck at our 
supremacy on the seas, and our connection with the 
outlying portions of our empire. 

It is known that the admiral in command in the 
Mediterranean and his second in command have both 
of them, during this year, in the strongest " Anglo- 
Saxon at their disposal," called the attention of the 
Admiralty to the fact that our position during the last 
two or three years in that part of the world has 
altered, and altered for the worse, and we are not 
strong enough to face a combined Franco-Russian 
attack ; and when the question was raised in the House 
of Commons neither the First Lord (Selborne) nor the 
Secretary of the Admiralty, Mr. Arnold Forster, could 
deny that we were woefully short in torpedo-boat 
destroyers — the Government were going to send some 
more there directly they were built ; and that the 
percentage of battleships which the Admiralty them- 
selves laid down as being the minimum had not been 
maintained, but that it was owing to the engineers' 
strike of a few years ago which had delayed the com- 
pletion of a number of our first-class battleships. 

Years ago it was discovered that a breakwater at 
Malta was essential to the security of the fleet to 
protect it from an enemy's torpedo attack. There is 
no breakwater at Malta at this moment, although 
there is a French torpedo station at Bizerta, 2 1 o 
miles away. 



1 64 GENERAL 

The recent manoeuvres have emphasised the fact 
that cruisers are as essential to a fleet to-day as they 
were when Nelson uttered his historic cry for more 
frigates. The cruisers are not being supplied because 
the Admiralty won't spend the money. Indeed the 
Vulcan, which was fitted as a repairing ship and sent 
to the Mediterranean in that capacity, has had to be 
used as a cruiser in order to make up for the deliciency. 
No adequate provision has been made for the first 
essentials of sufficient fighting, namely, telescopic sites, 
gyroscopes, smokeless powder for the 13. 5 -inch guns, 
armoured piercing shells, breech-loading field guns, 
wireless telegraphy, and when these matters were 
publicly debated in the House of Commons not one of 
the statements I have just made was disputed by Lord 
Selborne, who began his speech by stating that he had 
not been in office long enough to have earned the 
confidence of the country ! It will be a fatal day for 
this country if the electorate ever has confidence in 
either the Secretary for War or the first Lord of the 
Admiralty, because the experience of many years 
teaches us that it is only by the nation keeping awake 
and compelling attention to these matters that you are 
ever likely to have a fleet or an army which the nation 
can rely upon to do the work which one day they 
may be called upon to do. 

It is a commonplace of English strategy that, im- 
mediately upon the declaration of war, the work of the 
English fleet will be to search for the enemy and to fight 
him on the high seas wherever he can come up with 
him ; and in the Icadintr article in The Standard — a 
newspaper which is supposed to be to some extent repre- 
sentative of the views of the Government, as it probably 
is to a large section of public opinion — on the morning 
after the debate in the House of Lords, when Lord Sel- 
borne made his annual statement, we wero told that it 
did not matter if, at I lie moment, the Mediterranean fleet 



THE imiTrsir navy 165 

was inferior to the ciiciiiy's, beciuise tbey could easily 
go into harbour under the shelter of British forts and 
wait for reinforcements to arrive. If an English fleet 
ever had to do that, the supremacy of the seas would 
be gone and a large portion of our over sea trade 
would bo handed over to the ravages of the enemy. 
It is for the public — it is for the men who, after all, 
control ministries in this country to see to it that the 
Mediterranean fleet is the structure upon which our 
empire rests, and that the admiral in command of it 
immediately war is declared, instead of sneaking about 
in harbours in the hope that reinforcements may 
elude the enemy's fleets and pick him up, shall be able 
to strike the first blow — to strike it at once and to 
strike it home. 

There is another very serious question, and that 
is the condition of the Naval Reserve and the number 
of foreigners in our Mercantile Marine. In 1876, 
according to Mr. Clark Hall's return, Ave had 16,511 
enrolled apprentices in the Mercantile Marine. In 

1896 there were only 7280, and only 1535 enrolled 
in that year at all, which means that there was a de- 
crease of 9231 in twenty years. Now we have 1605 
boys at sea, and there are 65,090 officers and seamen 
in the Mercantile Marine. In the Navy Estimates of 

1897 and 1898 provision is made for 62,087 petty 
officers and men. For this 6000 boys must be 
annually trained, and at least 1 0,000 ought to enter 
the Merchant Service annually, instead of the 1535 
enrolled in 1896. In 1887, 15 per cent, of the 
crews in the merchant service were foreigners. In 
1897 it was 18.46 per cent., which is double what it 
was thirty years ago. Of these 30 per cent, are sailors 
alone. We have 47,884 seamen in our home and 
foreign sailing and steam vessels, and deducting 14,316 
who are foreigners, this leaves us with only 33,568 
who are of British nationality. Deducting this latter 



1 66 GENERAL 

figure from the 47,884, leaves us witli only 16,000 
men to draw upon and carry on our trade after allow- 
ing 24,000 to the Naval Reserve. (These figures do 
not include the fishing population.) In the last five 
years there has been a decrease of 5558 British 
seamen coupled with an increase of 3562 foreign 
seamen in the Mercantile Marine. We have this 
alarming and distressing fact, that as the num- 
ber of the Britishers goes down the number of the 
foreigners goes up — men who come from Sweden, 
Germany, Norway, and the United States, manning 
the ships on which our safety in the long run de- 
pends, and doing the work which of all other work 
should be done by British muscle, pluck, and en- 
durance. Many remedies have been suggested to 
cope Avith this very serious evil. Sir Edward 
Reed's Manning Committee favoured training ships, 
and in this Lord Brassey and Sir John Hay 
concur. It has been suggested, on the other hand, 
that we should have apprentices in selected vessels 
or training ships, upon which boys could be drafted 
from the Board Schools, and this would cost the 
country i^2 50,000 per annum for the next ten 
years ; but Avhatever be the remedy and whatever be 
the expense, it is a question which will have to be 
faced and have to be dealt with unless the efficiency of 
the Navy and of the Mercantile Marine, from which we 
get our reserve, is to be very gravely impaired. 

The value of sailing ships is recognised in every 
foreign navy, and as an encouragement to their employ- 
ment in the Mercantile Marine, in whicli to rear their 
reserves of men, sul)sidies are paid to the owners of 
sailing ships on a liberal scale. The North German 
Lloyd receives ;{^2 50,000 a year from the German 
Government, and the Messageries Maritimcs ^i 25,000 
from the French Government. As a result, the con- 
struction of sailing ships in those countries showed 



THE BRITISH NAVY 167 

considerable progress at a time when sailing vessels 
were disappearing altogether from beneath the British 
Flag. As all the authorities will tell you that sailing 
ships are the only real nurseries for seamen, it would 
probably be found not antagonistic to the interests 
of the shareholders in our great steamship conipanies 
if they would follow the example of the North German 
Lloyd and fit up a training ship with an experienced 
officer of the Eoyal Navy to conduct the school work, 
embracing all branches of a practical nautical educa- 
tion. To the great service lines, such as the Peninsular 
and Oriental, the AVhite Star, the British India or the 
Union Companies, it would be a small matter to equip 
a training ship under their own flag, following the lead 
of their foreign rivals, and thus seize the opportunity 
of carrying on the training of officers and seamen on a 
scale commensurate with the great fleet which foreign 
nations have compelled us to build during the last few 
years. In the session of 1898 the Government intro- 
duced a clause into the Merchant Shipping Act of that 
year providing for a reduction of the Light dues in 
favour of the owners of ships carrying apprentices, but 
the scheme failed because the inducements held out 
were inadequate. The amount refunded in respect of 
Light dues to owners of ships carrying boy sailors 
during the year from ist April 1899 t" ^^^ April 
1900 was .^681, 8s. lod. only. 

Lord Sell)orne stated in the annual Naval State- 
ment submitted to Parliament in March 1901, that 
negotiations for the establishment of a branch of the 
Royal Naval Reserve in the North American Colonies 
have been proceeded with during the past year, and 
fifty seamen from Newfoundland have been embarked 
in his Majesty's ships on the station for six months' 
training. The question of the part, that probably AviH, 
and certainly ought to, be played in the defence of the 
Empire by the far distant portions of it, is outside the 



1 68 GENERAL 

subject we have to discuss to-day, but no scheme of 
naval or military defence can be considered adequate 
which does not provide that the resources of the 
Empire all over the world shall be drawn upon as the 
occasion may require, and each unit of the hetero- 
geneous mass of men called the Imperial Forces shall 
know where his duties call him to stand in the event 
of war. 

I should like to give you the figures showing the 
number of men on whom we depend to man our fioet. 
At the beginning of the last century, when our popu- 
lation was relatively small and our commerce insigni- 
ficant as compared with what it is to-day. Parliament 
voted 120,000 seamen and marines for the fleet; in 
1885 the numbers were 61,000; in 1895, 88,000, or 
an increase of 27,000 in ten years. The total number 
of officers, seamen, boys, coastguards and marines pro- 
posed for the year 1 90 1 -2 is i i 8,6 3 5 , being an increase 
of 3745 upon last year. 

Let us now turn from this branch of the subject 
and look at the position we occupy from being an 
island. 

It is a very charming idea, that of being " set in 
the silvery sea." It probably would have spared us 
from many a European entanglement had it not been 
for our national characteristic of insisting on takino- a 
hand whenever there Avas any fighting to be done, but 
it has its drawbacks as well. As a nation, we live by 
making finished articles and carrying them over the 
seas, and this is a perfectly soiuid position so long as 
the finished article can be exchanged for food and 
other raw material. I say for food, because, finding 
\vc possess large quantities of coal and iron, avc turn 
our attention to nianufacturing rather than growing 
corn. Free trade sacrificed the farmer and gave us 
wool and cotton at the cheapest possible prices, and, 
in addition to sacrificing the farmer, it was a bonus to 



THE BIUTISII NAVY 169 

the .shipping world, iiLsoiniich as food juakos but one 
voyage whereas materials make two — imported in the 
raw state and exported as the finished article. We 
import cotton, wool, flax, silk, hemp, leather and wood, 
and if these importations were stopped from any cause 
whatever, 5,000,000 heads of families would be affected 
in this country. Now we can gather some idea of 
what this stoppage means by recollecting the effect 
of the cotton famine in Lancashire in 1862. It is 
reckoned that it cost the nation sixty-six millions of 
money, half of which is represented by the wages that 
otherwise the working-classes would have earned and 
one- tenth of it the profit of the shopkeepers. Pauperism 
in Lancashire went up 140 per cent., but it was only 
one trade that was affected, and the rest of England came 
to the support of the cotton tradr. W^'hat would have 
been the position if every industry had been in a 
similar plight; if the raw material of every trade 
had ceased to flow into the country, not because of a 
famine, but because the enemies' fleets were sufficiently 
strong upon the seas to say that none of these things 
should be allowed to be imported into England at all ? 
Whether the raw material is stopped because it does 
not grow for twelve months, or whether it is stopped 
because it is intercepted before it reaches English 
shores, will matter not in the least to the classes who 
depend upon free importations for their existence, and 
will be equally disastrous to the nation the moment 
this country ceases to be so predominant at sea as to 
keep the ocean highways open. 

But there is another very important way of looking 
at this question, and that is the question of the foreign 
food we import. In 1895 only one person out of 
every five in these islands ate English bread ; the rest 
of them had to feed on wheat that Avas imported 
into the country. Our chief food imports for that 
year were: grain and Hour, ^^48, 200,000 ; dead 



lyo GENERAL 

meat, ;6^2 2,700,000 ; sugar, ;^ 19, 100,000 ; butter, 
;^i6,5oo,ooo ; tea, ;^9,8oo,ooo ; animals, ;^9, 000,000 ; 
fruit and hops, iJ^6, 270,000 ; clieese, iS^5, 500,000. In 
the year i 800 we practically fed ourselves, at any rate 
to the extent of nineteen-twentieths of our require- 
ments. But in 1795 the harvest failed. A bounty 
was put on imported corn of 1 6s. to 20s. a quarter. 
The quartern loaf was up to is. lod. In 18 12 it 
was IS. 8d. for months together at a time when wages 
in the north were only 30s. a week, the famous Lud- 
dite Riots being to a large extent the consequence ; 
but in 1795 and 18 12 we were able to feed ourselves, 
and our supremacy at sea was unquestioned. A nation 
dependent upon food which it cannot obtain, dependent 
upon manufactures which have ceased to exist, let its 
patriotism be Avhat it may, would be incapable of con- 
tinuing a war for a week. We can imagine what 
would be the position in this country under such 
circumstances to-day. 

It is the close, let us suppose, of our second month 
of Avar, The fleet has been neglected, and has been 
overwhelmed, unready and unprepared. We have 
been beaten twice at sea, and our enemies have estab- 
lished no accidental superiority, but a permanent and 
overwhelming one. The telegraph cables are severed ; 
these islands are in darkness, under a heavy cloud 
of woe. Invasion is in the air ; our armies are mus- 
tering in the south. We are cut oft' from the world, 
and can only fitfully perceive Avhat is happening. 
Our liners have been captured or sunk on the high 
seas ; our ocean tramps are in the enemies' hands ; 
British trade is dead, killed by the wholesale ravages 
of the hostile cruisers. Our ports are insulted, or held 
up to ransom ; when news reaches us from India it is 
to the effect that the enemy is before our troops, a 
native insurrection behind. Malta has fallen, and our 
outlying possessions are passing from our hands. Food 



THE BRITISH NAVY 171 

is contriiltand and may not be imported. Amid the 
jeers of Europe " the nation of shopkeepers " is writhing 
in its death agony. 

And what of the internal, of the social position ? 
Consols have fallen to near 30 ; our vast investnrients 
in India have been lost ; trade no longer exists, and 
every industry but shipbuilding is paralysed. The 
woollen mills of Yorkshire are running no longer ; the 
cotton mills of Lancashire are silent ; wages are falling 
fast, as they fell in our last great war, and concurrently 
the price of every kind of provision is rising. The 
railways have no traffic to carry, for nothing is being 
produced, and they are dismissing their employees. 
Banks and companies are failing daily. The restricted 
income of the wealthy is restricting in its turn the pro- 
tits of the shopkeeper and the wages of the working man. 

The east end of London is clamouring for bread 
and peace at any price. The working-men of the 
north are starving, as they starved in the cotton 
famine of 1862. Then it was only the supply of 
cotton which was cut off: food could at least be freely 
imported. To-morrow, if we are beaten at sea, we 
shall have neither raw materials nor food, and our 
sufferings will be multiplied fifty-fold. Our dockyards, 
private and public — if, indeed, they have been spared 
by the hostile fleets — will, it is true, be full of ships. 
The ministry will have endeavoured to calm public 
alarm and to allay the want of food by tabular state- 
ments proving that we shall have two hundred new 
ships in two years' time. And we shall be crushed in 
a fortnight ! The ships building will go to swell our 
enemies' total. All our enormous resources, all our 
great wealth will be useless, if we have not that 
staying power which is needful to carry us safely 
through the first six months of war, and the strength 
required to take the offensive, directly it has been 
declared. 



172 GENERAL 

This picture may be perhaps highly coloured, but 
there is no man who will deny that behind it all 
lie strong and undeniable facts, the contemplation of 
which, forgotten or overlooked as they were for many 
years, has caused men of all parties in the state to 
agree that, let the sacrifices be what they may, 
the only thing that stands between it and England 
is a fleet powerful enough to keep the enemy from 
our doors and the great trade routes as safe as an 
English highway. In truth, history does not show 
another instance of a nation so supremely dependent 
upon the supremacy of the seas as we are. Other 
nations may suffer and be beaten and other capitals 
may be occupied by foreign enemies, and after they 
have paid the price of defeat they can begin to recoup 
themselves. But Eno-land. as Lord Beaconsfield once 
said, " England cannot begin again." 

At the beginning of the century, in spite of the 
undisputed supremacy which Trafalgar had gained for 
us, our shipping suffered very severely. There were 
many commercial failures, and the Treasury gave grants 
of ;^5, 000,000 of money by way of assistance. In 
1805 the Rochefort squadron took four ships of war and 
forty-two merchantmen in five months, and nearly 
one hundred French privateers were swarming in the 
Channel. In the great war, the French took i i .000 
ships, worth ,^^2 00,000,000 of money, which worked 
out at 555 ships per annum on an average, being 
equal to a tax of 2h per cent, on our trade; and this is 
a point which is very often lost sight of, viz., the 
enormous losses sustained by our Mercantile Marino 
in tlie days when the enemies' fleets were comparatively 
impotent. The same risks will attend the Mercantile 
Marine to-day in spite of the fact that the English 
navy possesses far more connnerce-protecting cruisers 
than any other. All wo can hope to do is to reduce 
this loss to a minimum, so that the inducements 



THE lUUTTSH NAVY 173 

sluill bo iis little as possible to transfer any part of the 
English trade to neutral bottoms, because the experi- 
ence of the past shows us that trade once transferred 
to another flag very seldom comes back again, and 
of this the history of the United States is one of the 
most striking instances. 

But sea power is of importance from the strategic 
point of view as well. We were able to do what all 
the great armies of the Continent failed to do in 
the Napoleon wars, because we were unbeaten at sea. 
Our base was the ocean, and whatever might be our 
fortunes on land, we had only to retire to our base 
and the enemy could not touch us. It is true we 
were beaten in the Corunna campaign. We retired 
to our ships and chose our own time to make 
another descent upon the land, and had wo been 
beaten a dozen times, we could always withdraw 
behind our lines, and after having recruited our 
strength, land again. Captain Mahan says in his 
great naval work, referring to the fleet with which 
Lord Nelson blockaded Toulon, " Those weather-beaten 
ships on which the Grande Armec never looked stood 
between it and the dominion of the world." We have 
lately had questions of great moment in dispute in 
Africa with France and with Germany. What could 
either of these great nations do if they found them- 
selves at war with us ? They could send no re- 
inforcements of men, guns, supplies, amnmnition, or 
stores of any sort to any of then* colonies. They 
could not attack any of our Colonial possessions, be- 
cause so long as we had an unbeaten fleet at sea, they 
would not dare to risk the existence of an army by 
putting it on board ship until that fleet was disposed 
of. I remember once talking about the British occu- 
pation of Egypt with Mr. Spencer Wilkinson, who 
is a high authority on naval strategy, and I asked 
him whether he did not think that our locking up 



174 GENERAL 

some 5000 British troops in Egypt avouIcI be a source 
of weakness to us in a great war, because an enemy 
might slip in an army and land it there, to whom w^e 
should be bound to capitulate ? He answered — and 
this is the true answer — that they would not dare to do 
anything of the kind, because we should absolutely 
cut off the invading army from their base and their 
supplies, and they in turn would be forced to capitulate 
to us. It was the great mistake Avhich Napoleon 
made over a hundred years ago. He sent an army 
to Egypt, and forty centuries looked down upon his 
prowess ; but they also looked down upon his escape 
from the country the best way he could, because there 
was an unbeaten British fleet in the Mediterranean. 
We had an instance of this in the late war be- 
tween Japan and China. There you saw Japan after 
first crumpling up the miserable Chinese fleet, in 
Avhich every principle I have here been inculcating 
had been ignored, landing their army at will at any 
part of the Chinese coast which they saw tit, and 
proving the enormous strategic advantage which lies 
with any nation who is stronger at sea than its 
opponents ; and when I hear of the nations of Europe 
rushing in mad haste to create colonial empires in any 
unappropriated part of the world, raising forces in the 
New World to redress the balance of the Old, I cannot 
help tliinking. whether that empire be in Siam or in 
Africa or in China, or wherever it may be, they are 
possessions wliich are only held on sufferance, and 
which must inevitably go to swell the final triumph of 
the nation stronger than themselves at sea with whom 
they engage in a conflict, although the beaten Power 
may have an army of 2,000,000 of men at home, 
who have not had the chance of firing a shot in 
the campaign. Tlicse possessions are held, therefore, 
by the sufferance of the stronger naval Power, and are 
the best guarantees of peace that you could desire. 



THE BRITISH NAVY 175 

We now have annually in London a celebration 
of the man whose name will stand for all time 
as the embodiment of sea power, and of all tjiat 
it means to this Empire, and to whom we owe a 
debt which we can never repay, and there has been 
some hostile criticism directed against the fact that 
that celebration also appears to hurt the feelings of a 
great naval Power with whom we are, and always 
wish to be, at peace. It is true, that if we celebrated 
every victory life would be one long carnival. One 
day is Trafalgar, the next is Agincourt and Balaclava, 
but Trafalgar stands apart from all the victories on 
our scroll of fame, and represents not merely a 
triumph over an enemy, but the triumph of what 
is essential to our existence. Germany celebrates 
Sedan, not because Napoleon III. surrendered so 
much as because it symbolises United Germany. 
America celebrates Washington, not so much be- 
cause he beat the English, but because he stands 
for the United States, and for all that made them 
possible. The French have lately been celebrat- 
in"- Joan of Arc, not so nuich because she beat the 
English, but because through her genius and inspira- 
tion she finally freed the national soil from the foot of 
a foreign invader ; and what Sedan is to Germany, and 
Washington is to the United States, and Joan of Arc 
is to France, Trafalgar is to this people. It meant 
liberty to us and to Europe. It meant a colonial 
empire ; it meant that the great ocean trade routes 
should be British highways. It rendered possible 
that progress and advancement which have raised us 
to the position we occupy to-day. Unless I have 
sadly misread the history of my country, when our 
possessions in America were small and weak and 
struggling, the French had a very considerable colony 
there. I dare say you remember that story of General 
Wolfe at Quebec, which I always think the most touch- 



176 GENERAL 

ing in our history. Rowing down the St. Lawrence 
River Avith muffled oars, w^e are told that he recited, in 
the still night air, Gray's '■ Elegy in a Country Church- 
yard " : 

" The boast of lieraldiy, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Awaits alike the inevitable hour, 

The piths of glory lead but to the grave," 

and when he came to those words he turned to a 
young aide-de-camp and said he would rather have 
written that poem than take Quebec upon the morrow. 
He little knew the path he was taking that night was 
to lead to his own grave, but the great fact for us to 
remember is that the victory he won at Quebec meant 
that for all time, as far as human eye can see, it 
should be the English language, English institutions, 
English laws, the English faith that should be supreme 
from one end of that continent to the other. 

And so it was in Asia. The French had a great 
colonial empire there when we occupied only a few 
miles of country on the sea-border, and clerks of the 
old East India Company coming down from their 
high desks, and forced by circumstances to be 
»enerals, fouf^ht and overthrew the best marshals 
of France, and added to the English possessions what 
is noAv called the brightest jewel in the Queen's crown. 
But all those things were possible only because we 
liad won the suprcmac}^ of the seas.- 

History has a way of repeating itself, although the 
struggles of tlir future appear to be shifting to another 
c«jntinent. I am convinced that this generation is pre- 
pared to do in the twentieth century for their grand- 
sons in Africa what our ijrandfathers in the oi<>hteenth 

' Since this has been passintr thiotigh tlic press the I'.ocr W.ir li;is 
lieen fought, and still furtlicr oni])h;isiscs the iin|i(irtaiiee of sea i)ower 
to IIS, because it is the lieet tliat has kept the high road to Africa safe 
for the passiige of the British army. 



THE BRITISH NAVY 177 

century did for us in Asia and in America. And 
because the Navy League tries to bring home these 
truths to the people there are those who see in them 
only something provocative to other nations. If I 
want to contemplate the lives and be inspired by the 
examples of the heroes of the past, it is probable I 
sliould not go to Trafalgar Square on a day which 
had been set apart purposely to draw a London crowd 
there. I would rather go to the Minster in the west, 
or to your great cathedral in this City of London, 
where over ninety years ago, 

" To the sound of muffled drums, 
To thee, the greatest sailor comes. 

Where the sound of those he fought for, 
And the feet for those he wrought for, 
Echo round liis bones for evermore." 

But however this may be, the life of Lord Nelson 
is now the most priceless national possession. " Thank 
God, I have done my duty," w\as all he said as the 
seventeenth ship struck its colours to him in suc- 
cession ; and he died, knowing he had won that 
consummate victory that has already given us an 
unbroken peace of over ninety years upon the ocean, 
by virtue of which the commerce of England is to-day 
carried into all lands, and her flag flies supreme on 
every sea in every quarter of the globe. 



M 



NAVAL BASES AND COALING STATIONS 

By C. H. crofts 

"These stations I hold to bo vital to ;is in time of war. If you 
allow your ships to be deprived of coal they will lie useless on 
the water. In the old days the Avooden ships might be repaired 
by the ships' carpenters after a general action ; but your iron 
ships must go to places where there are docks, and means by 
which they can be j^roperly repaired. At the principal of these 
coaling stations there are those facilities which would enable the 
refitting to be undertaken. But it is perfectly necessary to defend 
those places, and if you leave them exposed, you leave them to be 
taken possession of by the enemy. If you have no place at Avhich 
your ships can adequately refit and recoal, you must double or 
treble your ships, and they may be perfectly useless. Therefore, it 
is for the Government to determine what the number of those dif- 
ferent stations should be, and then adequately to provide for their 
defence. Upon that question depends not only the keeping afioat 
of her ]\lajesty's navy, but the whole maintenance of the trade of 
this country ; and, inasmuch as tlie life of this country is com- 
merce, our national existence itself may be said to dei)end on the 
number of our well-defended stations." — Lord Carnarvon : Speech 
in the House of Lords. 

In estimating the value of the various coaling stations 
and naval bases scattered over the British Empire, 
two points of vicAv from which the question should 
be considered have been confused in the minds of 
some of the writers on this important subject. 

The result of this confusion has been that certain 
deductions have been drawn as to the character and 
extent of t,lie protection necessary for these stations 
which are not warranted by the teachings of history, 

and are in some cases illogical. 

.78 



NAVAL BASES 179 

This twofold point of view arises from the double 
duty that our ilcet would have to perform in time of 
war. 

Tiiu first duty of our navy is to seek out and 
destroy if possible the enemy's Heet, for it nuist never 
be forgotten that our frontier is not our own coast-line 
lull thai of the enemy. This definition of our frontier, 
though its truth was vaguely recognised by some of our 
great sea captains of early days, notably Lord Hawke, 
as seen in his determined blockade of Brest, followed 
by the important l)attle of Quibcron Bay, did not 
become a (;ardinal point in naval strategy until the 
times of Lord St. Vincent and of Nelson. 

It is to-day recognised as a correct definition by 
our naval strategists, but, of course, it must not be 
taken to refer to times of peace. If carried to its 
logical conclusion it would amount to stating that 
the existence of any fleet but our own on the high 
seas Avas an invasion of our territory ; and though it 
has been so stated by some with whom the wish 
may be father to the thought, it is asking too much 
to expect that no other fleet but ours should be at 
liberty to use the great waterways of the globe. 
The theory applies only to the time of war ; when 
we are in a state of openly declared hostility with 
another maritime nation we should, if in sufficient 
strength, blockade that enemy's fleet ; and if that 
fleet escaped fVom our blockading squadron, then, and 
then only, can the existence of this fleet on the high 
seas be regarded as an " invasion of our territory." 

By " blockade " is meant military blockade — the 
blockade of warshi]is by warships. Civil or conuner- 
cial blockade, though a military operation, is sanctioned 
by law, and is hardly germane to the subject. Military 
blockade is sanctioned only by force. Even in this 
latter sense, however, one can diflorentiate between 
three different kinds of blockade. 



1 80 GENERAL 

Strictly speaking, the blockade of a port means 
the prevention both of ingress or egress of any ships 
to or from that port ; but both mashing and ohscrviny as 
well as this sealing-up of fleets are included in the term, 
and hence confusion arises. Instances will occur to 
all readers of naval history in which the blockade can 
clearly be classified under one or other of the above 
heads. 

For an exhaustive discussion on "blockade," students 
are referred to Admiral Colomb's essay, in which he 
instances Nelson's blockade of Corsica (1794) as an 
example of sealinrj-up ; his blockade of Cadiz (1805) 
as mashing ; and Collingwood's blockade of the same 
port before Nelson's arrival as observing} 

In order that all our maritime interests may be 
properly protected, our fleet will have to attempt the 
blockade of the hostile squadrons in their own ports, 
using the word in its strictest sense. Whether Ave are 
strong enough to do so is more than questionable. 
The introduction of steam, and the invention of tor- 
pedo-boats, submarine craft, and other weapons of 
defensive warfare, render it extremely improbable that 
an eftective blockade (i.e. sealing-up) can be maintained. 
The experiences of the Americans at Santiago confirm 
this opinion. Even before the improvement of the 
submarine, it was considered that " under the altered 
conditions which steam and the development of attack 
by locomotive torpedoes have introduced into naval 
warfare, it will not be found practicable to maintain an 
etVcctivc blockade of an enemy's squadron in strongly- 
fortified ports, without the blockading battleships being 
in the proportion of at hast Jive to three, to iJlow suffi- 
cient margin for casualties." ^ 

Such a proportion of ships we do not possess when 

' " Blockade : Under Existing Conditions of Warfare." Admiral 
Colomb. 1887. 

"^ Government Report, 1888, 



NAVAL BASES i8i 

our navy is compared to the combination of the next 
two most powerful European navies, the standard of 
comparison which has been accepted by our statesmen. 

One can, therefore, in the future, expect that block- 
ade will consist in masking, or possibly only in ohserving, 
in either of which cases some of the enemy's cruisers 
are bound to create enormous havoc in our sea-borne 
trade. That is only another mode of stating that our 
command of the sea is not assured in the event of 
war. 

Nelson won for us the sovereignty of the seas, 
though we had at earlier periods of our history both 
claimed this sovereignty, and had indeed for longer or 
shorter periods certainly established it. This sovereignty 
is our birthright, and to maintain it at all costs is our 
duty and privilege. The destruction of the enemy's 
navy will be the first duty of our fleet on the outbreak 
of war with any naval Power, or combination of Powers, 
that think themselves strong enough to dispute this 
supremacy on the oceans. Consequently the destruc- 
tion of the enemy's fleet is the best possible protection 
for our sea-borne trade, and for the continuance of our 
food supply. Any attempt to transport the enemy's 
troops would thus be rendered impracticable, and our 
communications with all parts of our Empire would be 
safeguarded. It is clear, then, that in every possible 
war in which Great Britain could be entyasjfed, the 
primary function of the British Navy is to attack, and, 
if possible, to destroy the organised naval forces of the 
enemy.^ 

Taking this as the first duty of the fleet, our vari- 
ous naval coaling stations are bases of support to the 
fighting line. As such they should be so strongly 

^ For detailed information on the " Command of the Sea, and its 
vital necessity to Great Britain," consult the works of Spenser Wilkin- 
son, Admiral Colonib, Captain Mahan, Sir Charles Dilke, Sir George 
Clarke, H. W. Wilson, and other naval writers. 



1 82 GENERAL 

fortified and so fully provided with granaries and 
other sources of food supply, that it would be im- 
possible for an enemy, even in great force, to capture 
them or to do much material damage to them. 
Further, they should be fully equipped with dock- 
yards and the various machinery for refitting battered 
vessels, and should have large stores of ammunition 
and spare guns. But this fortification of bases should 
be kept within strictly defined limits. There should 
be only a few of such chief bases, fewer than we 
possess at this moment, and these should be assumed 
to be impregnable, self-supporting, and independent, or 
nearly so, of our fleet. There are always a few false 
policies current in reference to our needs in the matter 
of Imperial defence, and one false policy that often gains 
many adherents is the multiph cation of these so-called 
fortified naval bases. The craze for fixed defences 
occurs in cycles, and will always do so. It appeals to 
the first natural instinct, namely, that of self-preserva- 
tion, and not to the noble idea that certain men and 
certain places must be sacrificed in order that the 
whole may be preserved. The only idea the ignorant 
have of Imperial defence is to lock up troops in iso- 
lated forts, forgetting that if the enemy once obtains 
command of the sea the forts must fall in the end. 
As has been said, a few bases which are valuable 
strategic points should be most strongly fortified, but 
only a few, and Ihese must be completely self-support- 
ing in every way, capable of resisting a determined 
siege for months if not for years. But another equally 
important duty of our navy on an outbreak of war 
with a great naval Power, will be to protect our com- 
merce until such time as the enemy's cruisers are 
driven off the seas. And not only our commerce, 
but our coal. On this we are dependent for our 
motive power. Most of the coal stored at our vai-ious 
bases has to be carried across the seas from the home 



NAVAL BASES 183 

coalfields, so that it must bo efficiently guarded, not 
only in store but also in transit. This will be ac- 
complished either by the convoy system or by the 
patrol system.^ 

According to the former system oiu- merchant- 
ships will be gathered together in certain ports whence 
they will steam for their destination under the pro- 
tection of a squadron sufficiently strong to shield them 
from the attacks of the enemy's cruisers. This squadron 
will not leave them till they are safe in port. Accord- 
tng to the latter system squadrons of British warships 
will be assigned definite spheres of action, and will 
escort the merchant-ships through their own sphere 
until the next patrol ground is reached. 

From this point of view our foreign naval bases 
become simply ports of call for the protecting battle- 
ships and for the merchant-ships under their escort, 
and will not play the same role in a war that they would 
when considered as bases to which bii? fio-htin[>" fleets 
may repair after an important action at sea. These 
ports should be stocked with annnunition, spare guns, 
and other material, but should not contain such large 
supplies of coal or other naval necessaries as would 
induce the enemy's fleet to risk bringing on a general 
action when attacking them, nor should they contain 
any material of so great value that their loss would be 
an irreparable one to our naval strength. 

It is difficult to state what amount of protection 
such stations require without I'unning the risk of ap- 
pearing unduly dogmatic. The fortifications should, at 
all events, be such as could be adequately manned by a 
small "farrison, and their armament should be sufficient 
to drive off an attack from two or three cruisers that 
might attempt a raid." It would not be necessary to 

^ Vide Mahan's '■ Induenci; of Sea Power in the French Kevolution." 
'^ For teclinical discussion of this point see Brassej^'s "Naval 

Annual," 1S99. 



1 84 GENERAL 

have heavy armour-piercing guns, as these stations 
would not be expected to sink battleships, but only to 
protect themselves against capture by a landing party 
or by attacking cruisers. 

From these preliminary remarks it follows that 
naval bases and coaling stations should be divided 
into two distinct classes : i st, Primary bases ; by which 
we mean bases fully equipped and rendered practically 
impregnable. All our home dockyards, and a few of 
our foreign bases, such as Malta, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, 
Singapore, and Esquimalt, should answer this descrip-* 
tion, but unfortunately at the present time cannot he said 
fully so to do. 2nd, Secondary bases ; these, though 
useful to our fleet, should not be so valuable as to 
render their capture an irreparable loss to ourselves 
or a very great advantage to the enemy. 

It has been often taken for granted that the more 
bases an empire has, the stronger its position will be. 
This is not the truth. The value of our naval bases 
is very nuich overestimated by casual critics, and the 
unnecessary multiplication of such bases is really a 
source of weakness. Any such station, if it is un- 
necessary, causes useless expenditure, complicates the 
question of storage in time of peace, and may become 
dangerous in time of war. The disadvantages of weak 
naval bases were well illustrated in the late Spanish- 
American war. Both at Manilla and at Santiago de 
Cuba the harbours proved traps to the Spanish fleet, 
and the capture of Cavite, with its equipment of 
machine shops and its supply of stores, meant addi- 
tional strength to the Americans, and a corresponding 
loss to the Spaniards.^ 

It is quite clear from this war, and indeed a study 
of previous naval history teaches us the same, that 
the mere existence of naval bases, whether adequately 
fortified or not, and whatever their situation and 

1 See II. W. Wilson's "Downfall of Spain." 



NAVAL BASES 185 

equipiueul may be, will never convert a weak navy 
into a strong one. On the other hand, they may be a 
serious disadvantage to the more powerful fleet, in- 
asnuich as its commander may consider it his duty 
to protect such places from raids when his true policy 
would be to seek the enemy at some other point, 
e.g. the necessity of relieving Gibraltar in 1780, 178 i, 
and 1782, Further, it is quite possible that warlike 
operations may be brought on at some place on the 
oceans which is so distant from any of our bases that 
they will be of no use. Under these circumstances 
it is quite possible that a British squadron may have 
to take action in waters so far removed from all 
existing bases that it will be found advantageous 
to establish a ncAv temporary base rather than to 
attempt to utilise any existing one. The fact is, that 
these naval bases are often matters more of con- 
venience in time of peace than of necessity in time 
of war ; and their great value when the naval PoAvers 
are at peace is very apt to engender an exaggerated 
view of their importance to our Heets when hostilities 
have actually begun. 

We are told, for instance, that after a naval battle 
our ships could take shelter and repair their injuries 
at such places as Hong Kong, Esquimalt, &c. This is 
extremely doubtful. In the old days of muzzle- 
loaders, especially before the rifled muzzle-loaders 
came in, and when ships were built almost entirely 
of wood, and had no machinery in the modern sense 
of the term, ships could repair almost anywhere if 
wood could be bought. But nowadays the destruc- 
tion wrought by the 12 -inch breech-loader, and by 
the 6-inch quick-firer, is such that after a severe 
naval action none of these bases, with the doubtful 
exception of Malta,^ could repair the battered hulls in 
reasonable time, nor would it be possible to equip our 

' Even Malta would be unable to repair heavy damage. 



1 86 GENERAL 

bases with all that is necessary to repair such a wreck 
as was the Belkisle after her treatment by the 
Majestic, without such enormous expenditure that it 
would be preferable to spend the money on additional 
ships. But regarded as ports of call for cruisers 
guarding convoys of merchantmen, or as bases for 
the protecting squadrons under the patrol system, a 
supply of well-situated coaling stations is of immense 
importance. For from this point of view they are no 
longer a convenience, but a necessity. If we do not 
possess a sufficient number of such places at the 
outbreak of war, we shall either have to make them, 
or else take them from our enemies if they possess 
any. Having made them, or having taken them, 
their protection must be arranged for, and that is 
really the whole question. The lines on which they 
should be protected have already been indicated, 
but there are two more points that deserve passing 
notice. These are their proximity to the main home 
bases of a possible enemy, and the strength of that 
enemy's ott'ensive forces likely to bo exerted against 
them. It would not be difficult for a Power weak 
at sea but strong on laud to lit out an expedi- 
tion to attack and destroy a base situated within 
a few hours steaming distance of its own base 
without running any great risk. This would not be 
attempted if there was any danger of being caught, 
owing to the distance of the object of attack. As a 
nase in ])oint, it would bo com])aratively easy for 
Germany to attempt a raid on Sheerness, Chatham, 
and Woolwich, whereas an attack on Hong Kong or 
Esquimalt would not be dreamt of. Indeed, it is 
openly said that one of the first objects of a certain 
continental naval Power would be a raid on some of 
our Iioiik; dockyards. These, then, should first of all 
be rendered safe from im attack, and the obsolete 
forts and the antiquated armaments of certain home 



NAVAL BASES 187 

dockyards should be put in order and brought up to 
date without delay. 

With our Channel Fleet watching the entrance to 
the Mediterranean, as it probably would have to do in 
the case of war, our so-called Reserve Fleet ^ would be 
utterly incapable of dealing with the squadrons that 
could be assembled by our friends across the Channel 
at places within a few hours steam of our great 
southern dockyards and arsenals. Enormous damage 
could be done in a very short time, and the aggressors 
could get back safe before the Channel Fleet could 
come up. The home bases must therefore be ren- 
dered impregnable, even to the attack of a fleet, so 
that there may be no anxiety on this account. 

Important as our permanent fixed naval bases are, 
whether primary or secondary, it must not l)e for- 
gotten that temporary bases would in war time be- 
come of great use. By this term is meant not 
only actual ports which might be occupied, or 
towns on the seaboard where, owing to the nature 
of the commerce or industries of the place, it 
would be advantageous to establish a station during 
the continuance of hostilities, but rather smooth- 
water anchoracfes, which should bo seized and held 
against the enemy, and whither the accessory ships 
of a fleet should be sent. We ought to have a 
much better equipment of colliers, supplying ships, 
repairing ships, and factory ships, which, if properly 
organised, would form a mobile base, if the term is 
permissible. There has been but little effort made 
ot" late years to provide or organise such a necessar}' 
addition to a fleet like our own, owing partly to the 
self-satisfied apathy of the public, and partly to the 
want of energetic and thorough men in oflicial posi- 

' For justidcation of "so-called" one need only study tlie coniposi- 
tiun of this squadron, and the scattered positions of the stations of 
its component parts. 



1 88 GENERAL 

tions. But there is no doubt that it would be of 
immense vahie to us to have a good supply of such 
ships, which would enable an admiral to use to the 
fullest extent a smooth-water anchorage as a tem- 
porary base when it has been seized or occupied. 
We can never tell beforehand what points it may 
be necessary in war to occupy as naval bases, and 
the mere provision of fixed places to which ships 
will be forced to go for supply and repair is only 
a one-eyed policy, which may result in much wasted 
expenditure. Let these fixed bases be provided by 
all means, but let us also lose no time in creating 
a " mobile base!' ^ 

Garrisons. — Hardly less iniportant than the forti- 
fication and the armament of our naval bases is the 
question of the garrisons. At present the Admiralty 
is responsible for the security of the water area, while 
the War Office is responsible for the security of the port 
which constitutes the naval base of that water area. This 
system of dual control gives rise to many anomalies. A 
great amount of interesting information on this point is 
to bo found in the writings of various service critics, of 
which perhaps the most exhaustive is Sir John Colomb's 
letter to the President of the Defence Committee of 
the Cabinet.^ The advantages of one department sup- 
plying the fleet and the garrison at a distant base are 
so obvious that the point need not be laboured here. 
Since the Admiralty is responsible for securing freedom 
of water transit to and from any naval base, it is re- 
sponsible for the garrisons being provided with stores, 
ammunition, and other tilings necessary to preserve 
the efficiency of that garrison. Failure to do this 
would render the garrison useless. If, therefore, the 
Admiralty are bound to maintain the communications 

' Vide Adniiral Colomb's "Naval Warfare." 

* "Army Organisation in Relation to Naval Necessities." A letter 
to the Duke of Devonshire by Sir John Colomb, K.C.M.G , M.P. 1898. 



NAVAL BASES 189 

of the garrison, it may well be asked why the Admiralty 
should not take over the whole responsibility instead 
of" sharing it with the War Office. Such places as Malta, 
Gibraltar, Hong Kong, and some others are of course 
to be regarded as something more than naval bases. 
They are not only coaling stations and places of repair 
for the fleet, they are outposts of the Empire in the 
broadest sense, and as such should have large army garri- 
sons ; but all those bases which are merely naval stations 
should have their garrisons provided by the Admiralty, 
while the great outposts should, in addition to their 
military garrisons, have their local defences provided 
to some extent by the navy. The reorganisation of 
the Royal Marines for this purpose would simplify 
matters considerably, and would not necessitate service 
on land of the seamen themselves. Fiu'ther, the 
provision of submarine mines, which is from its nature 
a branch of defence more closely connected with the 
Royal Navy than with the Army, should bo undertaken 
by the Admiralty. 

If, however, the objections to Sir John Coloinb's 
suggestion that the Admiralty should be responsible 
for the manning and provisioning of the coaling bases 
are insuperable, which is not the case, would it not be 
possible to come to some arrangement by which the 
War Ofiice should obtain for its Royal Regiment of 
Artillery some training on board our battleships as 
naval gunners ? The guns of position with which our 
fortified bases, such as Gibraltar and Singapore, are 
armed, are similar to the heavy ordnance of our first- 
class battleships, and it might be extremely useful to 
be able to draft a few garrison gunners into the ships 
in case of need. 

The difficulty arising from the difference in the 
type of gun, the method of mounting, and the drill in 
connection with bringing the gun its ammunition and 
so on would be comparatively slight. 



iQo GENERAL 

The chief obstacle probably would lie in the fact 
that our garrison gunners are at present not seamen, 
by which is meant that if put on battleships to work 
the guns in rough weather they would probably be 
incapacitated by sea-sickness. If the officers and men 
of the garrison artillery could be given a slight addi- 
tional payment as an inducement to them to serve a 
certain number of weeks every year on battleships at 
sea, the men who availed themselves of this oppor- 
tunity could be drafted if necessary on to the ships. 
The duties of this valuable branch of the service are 
apt to become monotonous. Shut up for years in 
some desolate spot like Aden, it is only natural to 
suppose that they would welcome the change that a 
fortnight's cruise would bring ; and as the main object 
of the cruise would be to give them sea logs and a 
sea stomach, the training could be taken on board any 
kind of ship, and not necessarily one armed with the 
guns that they would have to manipulate. To such 
highly-trained scientific men as our garrison artillery, 
officers and men, are, there would be but slight diffi- 
culties to overcome in the actual manipulation of the 
guns ; what they want in order to become efficient seamen 
gunners is the experience and training of sea life. 

The details of the idea, the amount of extra pay if 
any, the time of sea service, are beyond the scope of 
this paper, but the idea is thrown out as a possible 
sohition of a real difficulty. 

Steam Cummunication and Telegraphs. — Before pass- 
ing on to discuss separately, but very briefly, the ex- 
isting state of the defences of our most important 
stations, there are two minor points connected with the 
general question that are not usually made sufficiently 
clear to the average person. 

The first is the want of regular and quick steam 
communication with some of the smaller naval bases. 
Even Malta, whose importance can hardly be over- 



& 



NAVAL BASES 191 

estimated, is not in frequent and rogiilar direct com- 
munication by steam with the chief city of the Empire. 
Certain boats of the P. & O. stop there, but the inter- 
vals between the calls are long, and the greater portion 
of the traffic is in the hands of an Italian company. 
The mail naturally comes overland to the south of 
Italy, then crosses the Straits of Messina to Sicily, and 
after traversing that island is brought by an Austrian 
company's boat to Valetta. But there are many 
islands belonging to this Empire which are shut off 
from all conuuunication with England for months and 
even years. It is hardly germane to the subject to 
discuss the communications of such places as Nightin- 
gale Island or Inaccessible Island. But take the 
case of the Falkland Islands. The population of these 
islands is entirely British, and lives by sheep-farming 
and seafaring industries. Some few years ago an 
attempt was made to export meat to the United 
Kingdom. This was for a time successful, but in the 
past year the trade has been interrupted owing to the 
falling off of the number of British ships calling at 
Stanley. In 1898 forty-six vessels of 62.131 tons 
called at the port, but only five of these were steamers 
flying the red ensign. In 1899 only one British 
steamer made the port, and she put in for repairs, 
being in a disabled condition. 

German enterprise, backed up by subsidies from 
a Government that fosters the industries of the coun- 
try it rules, has driven British trade out of many a 
foreign town, and the attack on our sea-borne trade 
is now being actively carried on. The great liners 
from Hamburg and Bremen are supplemented by 
smaller steamers that are successfully competing for 
ocean traffic to out-of-the-way places like the Falklands, 
just as the liners are emptying the P. & 0. passenger 
ships. In addition to this lack of steam conmiunica- 
tion with the home country, we have also to deplore 



192 GENERAL 

the isolated state of some of our outposts with regard 
to cable communication. The telegraph system may 
be not inaptly compared to the nervous system of the 
human body. The British Empire, regarded as a cor- 
porate entity, has its railway and steamships comnumi- 
cation corresponding to the arterial system, w^hile the 
nerves are represented by the telegraphic cables. 

It is essential that the most outlying places of the 
Empire should be in telegraphic communication with 
the brain, just as they should be in steamship com- 
munication with the heart. But there is many an 
isolated outpost which will be first informed of an out- 
break of war between Great Britain and some Conti- 
nental naval Power by a cruiser of that Power appearing 
in the harbour and demanding the speedy delivery of 
the coal stored there, and the surrender of its forts. 
Cases in point are Brunei, Sarawak, British Hon- 
duras, Fiji, nearly all the Pacific Islands over which 
British protection has been declared at one time or 
another, and the Falkland Islands. 

Leaving the general discussion of the subject, and 
coming to the naval bases and coaling stations of the 
Empire as they now exist, a selection must be made, 
as it is impossible in this article to treat of all coaling 
stations used by British ships. The following table 
deals with the chief bases, but is not intended to be 
a complete list of stations owned by Great Britain. 
There are also many stations, such as Rio do Janeiro, 
where there are coaling-sheds and docks owned by the 
British Admiralty (Cobras Island), though part of a 
ff)reign country. Further instances are Shanghai and 
Capo de Verde Islands, at both of which the Admiralty 
own coaling-sheds, and Coquimbo, where they have a 
coal-hulk (The Liffcy). There are also a large number 
of coaling stations where the coal is the property of 
private firms, and where only merchant-ships coal as 
a rule, r.//. Rio de la Plata, St. Louis, Gaboon, Caldera, 



NAVAL BASES 193 

Liis Palraas, a comploto list of wliicli can be found in 
Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 



Principal British Coaling Stations and Bases. 

On the Mediterranean Station the chief naval bases 
are Gibraltar and Malta, while Port Said is used for 
coaling purposes. 

On the North American and West Indian Station 
the chief are : — St. Johns (Newfoundland), Halifax 
(Nova Scotia), Bernuida (Bermudas), Port Royal 
(Jamaica), Port Castries (St. Lucia, in the WindAvard 
Islands), Port of Spain (Trinidad), St. John (Antigua). 
Tobago Island, in the West Indies, is also used for this 
purpose. 

On the South American Station the only British 
possession is the group of tlie Falkland Islands and 
South Georgia, in the former of which is situated Port 
Stanley. 

Use is made of the coaling facilities at Rio de la 
Plata and Rio Janeho. 

On the West Coast of Africa and the Cape of Good 
Hope Station are Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle, Cape 
Town and Simons Bay, and the islands of Ascension 
and St. Helena. 

On the Pacific Station is Esquimalt on Vancouver 
Island, and Coquimbo on Chilian territory. 

On the Ead Indian Station are Aden, Bombay, 
Colombo, Trincomalee, Port Louis (Mauritius), Zanzi- 
bar, and Port Victoria or Mah(5, the largest of the 
Seychelles Islands. 

On the Australian Station are Sydney, Melbourne, 
Albany, Hobart (Tasmania), Wellington, Auckland and 
Christchurch (New Zealand), and Suva, the capital of 
the Fiji Islands, situated on the south ccvast of Vita 
Levu, the chief island of the group. 

V N 



194 GENERAL 

Some of these are so important that we will give 
further details, taking them alphabetically : — 



Aden. 

Aden is a most valuable coaling station on the 
highway to the East, and occupies a position of great 
importance in naval strategy. On the land side it is 
well defended, and the fortifications built in the last 
twenty years are probably strong enough to beat oft' 
any hostile vessel that is likely to appear in the Red 
Sea. The harbour has been much improved lately by 
dredging operations, which are being continued. The 
o-overnment of Aden, which includes the islands of 
Perim and Socotra, is carried on by the Political Resi- 
dent, who is subject to the government of Bombay. 
It is also garrisoned from India. 



Bermuda. 

A full description of this naval station will be 
found in the third volume of the series. Being situ- 
ated behind a barrier of coral reefs, through which 
access can only be gained by the passage of the Nar- 
rows, this station is as well protected as any base in 
the Empire. The passage is fortified with a series of 
casemated batteries, whose guns, though not of the 
heaviest or of the most modern character, are probal)ly 
sufficient to guard the entrance. There are over 
2000 regulars for the defence of the island, all of 
whom would be wanted to man the extensive fortifica- 
tions. The position of Bermuda, being about midway 
between the cruising grounds of the northern and 
southern divisions of our squadron in those waters, 
renders il one of the most convenient of our stations. 
It is connected by telegraph with Halifax and Jamaica. 



NAVAL BASES 195 

Gibraltar. 

This naval base is of great strategetic importance 
owing to the commanding position it occupies. Under 
the Naval Works Bill, both its strength and its useful- 
ness are being largely increased. The existing mole is 
being considerably extended, and a new detached one 
is being built. A deep harbour of 260 acres is thus 
being formed, and 50 acres of the foreshore and water 
area are being reclaimed to make the new dockyard. 
A new coal store is also in process of erection. There 
are to be three new docks, one 850 feet, one 550 feet, 
and one 450 feet, and the arrangements are such that 
merchant-ships will bo able to load and unload along- 
side piers at the water port end of the new harbour. 

The necessity of increasing the usefulness of Gib- 
raltar is very urgent, and is partly caused by the fact 
that our needs in the Mediterranean have outgrown 
the capacity of Malta. 

Gibraltar is often described as commanding the 
entrance to the Mediterranean. This phrase is some- 
what misleading, and does not mean that the guns 
mounted in the fort command the Straits of Gibraltar, 
so that no ship could pass without coming under tire. 
The real meaning is that Gibraltar is so situated that 
it is a safe base where a fleet may lie in harbour, and 
whence it may emerge to guard the Straits. 

In the same way, Malta cannot be said to " com- 
mand " the route to India, but to afford our Heet the 
(Opportunity of commanding it. 

It may be permissible here to point out that the 
large increase now being made in the accommodation 
of Gibraltar and Malta ought to be supplemented by 
the creation of a fresh naval base at Alexandria. It is 
of the utmost importance that the Mediterranean Fleet 
should be free to act without having any undefended 
important position such as Alexandria to protect, and 



196 GENERAL 

that place ought to be made self-supporting strategeti- 
cally without delay. 

As England, however, is only occupying Egypt for 
temporary purposes, it may be impossible to undertake 
such measures, but the gradual development of Bizerta 
as a great French naval base renders it imperative 
that we should make greater efforts to strengthen our 
stations in the Mediterranean, and should considerably 
augment our fleet in those waters. 



•n 



Hong Kong. 

This great centre of British commerce with China 
and Japan has been fully described in the first volume 
of the series, in which Dr. J. Cantlie gives most inter- 
esting information on the value to us of this first-class 
military and naval station, as it was in the year 1896. 
Recent extensions of the colony, however, necessitate 
a slight addition to his description. As a naval station 
and arsenal for the supply of our ships in the East, 
Hong Kong had become utterly unsafe, owing to the 
increased effectiveness of modern artillery. Its two 
weakest points were that the island and harbour are 
completely dominated by the hills on the mainland, 
which run along the whole of the northern boundary, 
and that the sea to the south and west is full of islands, 
mountainous in character, affording shelter in innumer- 
able bays and creeks for an enemy's vessels. In addi- 
tion to these drawbacks the island itself has no defences 
to the south, and the greater portion of the coast-line 
is easily accessible for troops and guns. In 1898 
China leased to Great Britain 'i^'jG sqnaro miles of 
additional territory, known as the Kowloon extension, 
consisting of the mainland up to an imaginary line 
drawn from Deep Bay to Mirs Bay, and the island of 
Lantao. This extension iniddiihtedly strengthens our 
position, but those qualified to judge still rogard a 



NAVAL BASES 197 

further extension as necessary, both for the safety of 
Hong Kong itself and for the security of the sources of 
supply for the garrison that guards this important 
base. The existing fortifications are not only insuffi- 
cient in extent, but are inadequate in character for the 
defence of the colony. Their armament consists partly 
of muzzle-loading guns, of which there are over a 
dozen, while the movable iu^namcnt of the colony 
consists chietiy of eighteen muzzle-loaders. Under the 
Naval Works Bill provision is made for an extension 
of the defensive works of the colony, and also for a 
new dock, as well as for the improvement of the exist- 
ing dockyard accommodation. Unfortunately, improve- 
ments are often decided on in such matters but are not 
carried out till too late. Two 64-pounders on one of 
the islands adjoining Hong Kong were dismounted in 
1898 with the intention of putting breech-loaders ia 
their place, but the new guns have not been mounted 
to this day (November 1900). 

At present Victoria could be knocked to pieces, 
the docks on which large sums have been spent could 
be destroyed, and the coal and other supplies could 
be burned without hope of eft'ective resistance, if 
attacked by a small squadron of ships of war. 

Malta. 

The port of Malta is the chief base and port of 
call in the Mediterranean. The grand harbour, where 
the Mediterranean fleet is often to be seen at 
anchor, is surrounded by rocky shores that rise 
abruptly from the water, thus enabling ships of great 
draught to approach close alongside. This rocky 
amphitheatre is surmounted by enormous stone forts 
whose walls are immensely thick, the chief being 
Fort St. Elmo, Ricasoli, and St. Angelo. There are 
numerous detached batteries, and the island is con- 



198 GENERAL 

sidered almost impregnable, tliougli there are many 
muzzle-loaders that ought to be replaced by more 
modern ordnance. Though the harbour is large and 
well provided with side creeks, suitable for repairing 
and coaling purposes, the requirements of our fleet 
are such that the accommodation is insufficient. An 
addition is to be made to the four existing docks by 
the construction of a large double dock, which will 
necessitate the removal of an immense quantity of 
rock, since the shore rises so abruptly. Apart from 
the fortifications of Valetta there are many other 
well-fortified positions at other points on the island, 
so that an enemy would find it difficult to effect 
a landing should he wish to attack Valetta from 
the land side. About 10,000 troops are usually 
stationed at Malta. The weak spot in Malta is 
CO be found in the fact that the island is not self- 
supporting. The whole island is one enormous sterile 
rock, which at first sight appears entirely destitute of 
vegetation, since the stone walls hide all the fields 
and gardens from view. The inhabitants, however, by 
dint of great industry have succeeded in converting a 
fair proportion of the total area into fertile well- 
cultivated land ; but as the population is nearly 
200,000, and the demand for food owing to the calls 
made by ships is very great, the corn produced on the 
island is insufficient for the needs of the population. 
Thus there is danger of the place being starved into 
submission. There are huge underground granaries, 
but the supply of corn and other food stuffs is not 
kept at a sufficiently generous standard to maintain 
the population for any length of time if the islands 
were suddenly cut off from their sources of supply. 
There is, indeed, at the time of writing, good cause to 
believe that the supply of food and stores generally 
has been recently allowed to fall too low. With whom 
does the responsibility for this rest ? 



NAVAL BASES 199 

Singapore. 

The town of Singapore, situated on the southern 
shore of the island of the same name, is the seat of 
government of the Straits Settlements, and is one of 
the great centres of the world's commerce. 

The island is twenty-six miles long by fourteen 
wide, and is separated from the southern extremity of 
the Malay Peninsula by a strait about three-quarters 
of a mile wide. The situation of this port renders it 
readily accessible to the trade of Europe, China, 
Australia, and India, so that its commercial impor- 
tance is considerable. Nearly 10,000 merchant-vessels 
are cleared annually, and there are always immense 
stores of coal kept both for her Majesty's navy and 
for the great liners. The port is very well supplied 
with docks, which are owned by private companies, 
and all necessary arrangements for effecting repairs 
are in good order. The harbour has been strongly 
fortified in the last few years, and the forts have been 
supplied with modern heavy and medium artillery, 
and a system of submarine mines has been com- 
pleted. These defensive measures were carried out at 
the expense of the colony, the Imperial Government pro- 
viding the guns and ammunition. As to the garrison, 
there are two separate colonial forces, one being an 
armed police force of about two thousand officers and 
men, and the other a volunteer battery of artillery 
about one hundred strong. In addition to these local 
forces there is one battalion of infantry, two batteries 
of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, some fortress 
engineers, and a company of Malay submarine miners. 

St. Helena and Ascension Island. 

These two islands are perhaps the best known of 
any of the isolated islands in the world, and, as such, 



2 00 GENERAL 

need no historical or topographical description. Of 
great importance as ports of call in the days before 
the overland route to India and the opening of the 
Suez Canal, their strategic value has largely dimi- 
nished. But if in time of war the Suez Canal were to 
be blocked or rendered in any way useless for our 
ships both these islands would become of considerable 
value to us. 

Ascension Island has recently been strongly forti- 
fied, and is being connected by the Eastern Telegraph 
Company with the Cape, St. Helena, and Sierra 
Leone. It is entirely under the control of the Ad- 
miralty, being rated on the books as a man-of-war, 
and is used as a coaling, victualling, and store, depot 
for her Majesty's ships. There is also an excellent 
sanatorium for sailors at an altitude of nearly 3000 
feet. 

St. Helena has also been recently fortified, and it 
is intended to make it a regular coaling station and to 
build a sanatorium there as well. At present the coal 
supply is far too short at both these stations, as enor- 
mous demands would be made on both depots in time 
of war both by her Majesty's ships and merchant- 
vessels. 

Wei-Hai-Wei. 

This lately-acquired base is situated on the south 
side of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, distant about 1 1 5 miles 
from Port Arthur on the north-west, and about the 
same from the German port of Kiao-Chau on the 
south-west. It is in the Chinese province of Shantung, 
near the extremity of the promontory of that name, and 
has mountainous country immediately behind it. The 
liarbour is formed l)y a shallow l)ay, which is sheltered 
by the island of Liu-Kung, about li miles long, rising 
to a height of 500 feet. The entrance to the harbour on 
the west of tliis island is only three-quarters of a mile 



NAVAL BASES 201 

in breadth, the entrance on the east is 2| miles broad 
at the narrowest part. This entrance has the island of 
Tih-Tao right in tlie centre. The greater part of the 
liarbour is shallow, the depth being from three to four 
fathoms. The territory was leased to Great Britain in 
July 1898, for as long a period as Russia shall remain 
in possession of Port Arthur, and comprises in addition 
to the port and islands in the bay, a belt of land ten 
miles broad all along the bay. As a naval base it is 
not to be compared to Port Arthur at present, inasmuch 
as the latter is already fully equipped with a large dock, 
workshops, and strong fortifications. Wei-Hai-Wei, on 
the other hand, has none of these things, though there 
is a coaling jetty on Liu-Kung, and a large portion of 
the harbour has been dredged and buoys laid down. 
Indeed, its possession is a very questionable advantage 
to the Empire so long as only half-hearted measures 
are taken to develop its resources. On the other hand, 
with a considerable expenditure, it could be made into 
an invaluable base in the case of war with either of the 
two Powers whose fleets are most in evidence in those 
northern Avaters. Its position, standing as it does in 
comparative proximity to Russia's only ice-free naval 
harbour, would render it most valuable to us, more 
especially as we are dependent on the goodwill of the 
Japanese for coaling, docking, and repairing as soon as 
our fleet steams north of Hong Kong. 

A breakwater enclosing a large basin in which ships 
could be secure from torpedo-boat attack should be 
constructed immediately, and at the same time the 
island of Liu-Kung should be strongly fortified with 
guns of sufficient power to command the range of hills 
that surround the harbour. This would render it im- 
possible for an enemy attacking on the mainland to 
get heavy guns in position on the hills. A dry dock 
capable of receiving our biggest ships, well-protected 
coal and ammunition stores, should also be constructed. 



202 GENERAL 

By means of a cable laid down to connect the place 
with Hong Kong, and some torpedo-boat destroyers 
stationed there in troublous times, we should convert 
this white elephant into a most valuable naval base, 
which would be a great benefit to the navy instead of 
a hindrance to it. If it is worth our while to employ 
our ships north of the Yang-tze-Kiang, then it is worth 
our while to spend three or four millions on making 
Wei-Hai-Wei self-supporting and an additional source 
of strength ; on the other hand, if we do not mean to 
equip it properly it would be better to retire and hand 
it over to Japan. Our present policy seems to be to 
hold it with a few native troops under some British 
officers until a war shall break out in those waters, 
and then, when that occurs, we shall find ourselves 
obliged either to sacrifice our men and money and 
damage our prestige by leaving it to its fate, or to 
hamper ourselves by expending some of the strength 
of our mobile forces in relieving another Ladysmith. 

It is therefore clear that though our coaling stations 
and naval bases can be defended to a certain extent by 
local fortification, yet their real defence is the existence 
of a supreme British navy. The naval question lies at 
the base of all principles that concern either the de- 
fence of the Empire as a whole or the particular subject 
with which we are now dealino;. The maintenance of 
our communications all over the globe is our primary 
condition of life as a nation, and it is on the navy, and 
on the navy alone, that we must depend to satisfy this con- 
dition} Supremacy at sea cannot be obtained merely 
by defensive action. Our navy must act on the offen- 
sive ; it must compel the enemy to a fleet action ; it 
inust hunt down their commerce-destroyers, and must 
provide convoys or patrols to protect our own merchant- 
ships. It would therefore be a waste of money to do 

' "We have no defence, or hope of defence, excepting in our fleet." 
The Duke of Wellington, 1847. 



NAVAL BASES 203 

more than protect our stations locally against isolated 
attacks of occasional enemies. The money sliould 
rather be spent on the offensive strength of our fight- 
ing line. And lastly, while fully admitting the con- 
venience, nay, even in some cases the necessity, of well- 
situated coaling stations and other naval bases, it would 
be a fatal error to suppose that they in themselves, 
hoAvever numerous and hoAvever strongly fortified, could 
ever convert an inefficient and numerically Aveak navy 
into one sufficiently strong to guard the Empire of the 
seas. 

With these remarks Ave must leave this very in- 
teresting subject, once more stating that these naval 
bases and coaling stations do not in themseh^es form 
an element of strength, nor can any number of them, 
hoAvever great, make up for the defects of an inferior 
navy. It is only when they are strong enough, though 
unsupported, to resist attack, and when the navy even 
Avithout them is unquestionably superior to the enemy's 
navy, that they become supremely valuable and useful 
in a scheme of Imperial defence. 

No naval student can agree Avith the doctrine enun- 
ciated by Captain Stone, " That the possession of naval 
arsenals, dockyards, and coaling stations must prac- 
tically decide the question of naval supremacy." ^ On 
the contrary, the true theory of defence is to be 
found in the folloAving extract from Admiral Colomb's 
essays, Avhich succinctly sums up the question before 
us : " So long as we clearly understand that our fixed 
local defences are subordinate to, and assistant to, 
maintained lines of communication, and that purely 
naval force is never to be absent long enough to per- 
mit communication to be cut, Ave shall not allow much 
Avaste of money on Avhat is not of the essence of Im- 
perial defence. But if we suppose that local fixed 

' Taper read at the United States Institute by Captain Stone, 
January 1889. 



204 GENERAL 

defences Avill relieve the navy of any part of its histori- 
cally defensive character, and assume that fixed de- 
fences are a real substitute for naval defence, and will 
either strengthen the navy for purely offensive warfare 
or enable us to maintain a less complete fleet, then it 
should seem that we are not readino- at all, or not 
reading aright, the teachings of naval history." ^ 



1 << 



Essays on Naval Defence." Bv Vice-Admiral P. H. Colomb. 



THE BRITISH ARMY 

By Captain H. R. BEDDOES 

For convenience the reign of Charles I. may be taken 
as the point from which to trace the evolution of the 
army to its present condition. When he ascended the 
throne, every citizen was compelled to bear arms in his 
county force or trained bands ; in addition landowners 
had a further obligation to personal service in the 
king's wars, or in some cases to provide means of 
subsistence for his forces. During this reign there 
were continual disputes between the King and the 
Houses of Parliament as to the authority of the Crown 
to punish offences by soldiers ; and they steadily 
declined to grant him the powers which by an order 
of both Houses, dated 8th September 1642, w^ere 
entrusted to the Earl of Essex for the maintenance of 
discipline in the Parliamentary Army. 

It may be noticed as a curious circumstance that 
in the ordinance under which the Parliamentary Army 
was raised, sergeant-majors appear to rank after 
lieutenant-colonels and before captains. Another point 
which is well worthy of grave consideration is the 
undoubted fact that the officers in the Parliamentary 
Army were drawn from an extremely low social scale, 
and in consequence of their poverty steadily opposed 
all efforts to disband them. On the other hand the 
officers of the Royal Army could and did forbear their 
claims to pay on disbandment, in marked contrast to 
the rebel officers, who were entirely dependent on their 

salaries. 

205 



2o6 GENERAL 

The control by the Houses of Parhament over the 
forces of the Crown is so greatly maintained by their 
power to vote or refuse supplies that, if this did not 
exist, to all practical purposes their influence would be 
nil. Their authority is greatly increased by their 
right to insist that sums voted are spent as ordered 
and not as other items. 

At first the amount necessary for the pay, equip- 
ment, &c., of regiments was handed over to the 
commanding-officer, who was supposed to maintain 
the establishment ordered by the Crown. If this 
was done the system worked admirably, but in 
practice was found unsatisfactory and liable to fraud. 
The other charges, Avhich are inseparable from military 
expenditure, were classed under the head of extra- 
ordinaries, and were made by the Paymaster-General 
under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief. The 
Paymaster-General, being a Parliamentary officer, 
would not recognise a military officer's warrant as an 
adequate discharge, and had to apply for further 
powers. 

The expense of the army being defrayed by 
Parliament did not mean that the amounts were to 
be spent as the Commander-in-Chief might think 
fit, but that the Crown through the Cabinet was 
responsible for the correct disbursements. This is 
clearly shown by the reports of the Commons with 

regard to the action of William III. and the Duke of 

o 

Marlborough, whose irregular expenditures were 
continually being noticed. The Commons further 
maintained the right of auditing the public accounts 
by members of their own House, or else by individuals 
nominated by themselves. 

The first acts of the Parliamentary Commissioners 
appointed on the accession of Queen Anne were to 
inquire into Lord Ranelagh, the Paymaster-General's 
account. 'I'hcy foimd him guilty of misapplying 



THE BRITISH ARMY 207 

several sums of public money, and he Avas expelled 
from the House. 

Subsequent inquiries discovered that the system, 
however bad as applied to the Queen's own troops, 
was infinitely worse amongst the foreign subsidised 
forces. They ajjpear never to have been mustered 
while pay, &c., was drawn for regiments which were 
non-existent. It is hardly to be wondered at that the 
National Debt, under this system of auditing the public 
accounts, rose from rather more than sixteen millions 
to something over fifty-four millions. 

The interest and influence of Parliament gradually 
sank, until in 1778 Lord North opposed the printing 
of the accounts for the financial year 1778—79. A 
storm arose which the Ministry was unable to resist, 
and commissioners for auditing the public accounts 
were appointed, but the Commons lost the right of 
auditing by their own members or by their own 
nominees. Lord North announced that the names of 
the commissioners would be selected by himself. 

The report, which was furnished about four years 
later, found, as might reasonably be expected, great 
waste was taking place, the officers of the conunissariat 
and other departments acting in a dual capacity and 
owning the waggons, &c., which they hired for the 
public use, the private interests being directly opposed 
to then' public duties. The committee reported that 
the best security to the public would be to entrust the 
expenditure to civil servants not under the orders of 
the War Office, but directly under the Treasury. 

After the adoption of this report it was found the 
control of Extraordinaries was by no means complete, 
and it was left to the Reform Government of 1834 to 
originate a plan for laying before Parliament an esti- 
mate of the whole proposed military expenditure. 

Gradually the financial control became absolutely 
vested in the Treasury, with the result that the War 



2o8 GENERAL 

Office instead of being an independent department of 
the public service answerable to the Treasury merely 
for the correctness of its disbursements, eventually be- 
came entirely subordinate, and with financial Treasury 
experts rested the final decision for the expenditure 
necessary on military grounds. 

The course of events has from time to time given 
rise to grave doubts as to the wisdom of this result. 

The distrust of the army as a profession, which is 
still imfortunately found among the class from which 
recruits are drawn, dates from this period, and is due 
to the harsh treatment which was then prevalent, and 
the knowledge that neither the soldier nor the Crown 
received fair treatment from those through whom pay- 
ments were made. " The pay was small, punishments 
severe, and service abroad was equal to transportation. 
In addition, the national feeling was as strongly against 
the army as it was in favour of the navy and militia." 
The term of enlistment was for life, but subject to fre- 
quent modifications. Under Queen Anne a three 
years' term was usual, and in special circumstances 
tAvo years. 

The severe strain caused by the wars of the French 
Revolution was met by special Acts which alloAved men 
to pass from the militia into the regular army, con- 
trary to the previous regulations. In 1797, fifteen 
thousand had volunteered. The area of service was 
limited to Europe, and a bounty of ten guineas was 
given. The threatened invasion of England by Napo- 
leon Avas met by several Acts for the better defence of 
the kingdom, the principal of which was Mr. Pitt's 
Additional Forces Act, establishing second battalions 
to regiments abroad. The drain caused by the war is 
clearly shown by the variation in the standard of 
hei'dit for the recruit. In i 802 it was five feet seven 
inches, and in 1 8 1 3 was five feet, and men were ad- 
mitted up to forty years of age. At Waterloo it is 



THE BRITISH ARMY 209 

usually cadniitted that our soldiers compared unfavour- 
ably Avith those of the allies, and that they were, in 
fact, little more than boys. This fact should at least 
have some weight with those who rail at the youthful 
appearance of the recruit in the present day. 

At the peace, the army entered upon a period of 
neglect, when everything was starved with a view to 
economy. This lasted until the Crimean War in 
1854. 

In the early part of last century, and until 1879, 
the law for the punishment of breaches of discipline 
and kindred offences was contained in a variety of 
Acts, the principal of which was the Mutiny Act. 
This led to considerable confusion, to obviate which 
in 1879 the various powers were concentrated into 
one Act, that did not become effective until brought 
into action by an Army Annual Act, which had to be 
passed every year. In 1 8 8 1 this Act, generally 
known under the name of the Army Discipline Act, 
was repealed, and a fresh one enacted containing 
several amendments, and it is under this Act that the 
army is at present governed. Like the former, it is 
brought into force by an Army Annual Act, by which 
also any sections that become unnecessary are repealed 
or fresh ones introduced. 

The present conditions under which discipline is 
maintained, and the terrible severity formerly con- 
sidered requisite, are conspicuously shown by com- 
parison with the scale of punishment in force now 
and formerly. Then flogging was resorted to for 
offences which would at the present day be adequately 
met by light imprisonment. Sentences of 2000 lashes 
were legal, but Avere unable to prevent the crime of 
desertion. In 1825 a man received as many as 1200 
lashes, and the sentence was then not completed. 

Before passing on to the various branches of the 
service, it will be well to give a short account of the 
V o 



2IO GENERAL 

War Office. It is the great directing department 
containinof the heads of the various sections and 
supervising the routine throughout the Empire. " The 
Army Book of the British Empire " terms it " the focus 
of the miUtary administration." The head of the 
War Office is the Secretary of State, who is responsible 
to the Crown for the efficiency of the forces, to the 
Treasury for the correct method of expenditure, and 
to Parhament that he maintains a correct force, that 
the estimates are correctly prepared, and, again, that 
the sums voted are spent in accordance with the 
votes. The chief divisions of the War Office are 
command, pay, and supply. These departments in an 
embryonic stage may be traced at an early period of 
our history, but in times of peace were almost 
dormant. The first department which appears to 
have been permanently established was the Board of 
Ordnance, commenced in the ToAver during 1455. 
The necessit}^ for arms, &c., at the outbreak of war 
made some previous preparation necessary, and the 
Board of Ordnance was entrusted with these duties, 
which they continued to exorcise until 1855, exactly 
four hundred years from their inauguration. In 
addition, the engineers and artillery were under their 
control. 

The Crimean War found the army administration 
in a state of complete confusion. When Lord Pan- 
mure was appointed Secretary of War, his first eiforts 
were directed to concentrating the entire direction of 
the military forces in one office. Previously the 
Treasury had been responsible for the commissariat, 
and the Home Office for the yeomanry and militia. 
He then aljolishcd the Board of Ordnance. 

In 1870 Mr. Cardwoll distributed the various 
duties among three departments, and this lasted until 
1888, when, by an Order in Council, the whole was 
reduced into two divisions — (i) The Commander-in- 



THE BRITISH ARMY 211 

Chief, responsible for everything connected with the 
efficiency of the force; (2) the Financial Secretary, 
under whose charge is everything relating to pro- 
duction, and all arrangements relating to expenditure. 
At present the result is, therefore, that there are two 
departments — the military under the Commander-in- 
Chief, and the civil imder the Financial Secretary, 
with the Secretary of State, to whom both are answer- 
able. These two subdivisions are nmtually dependent 
upon one another. The Commander-in-Chief is re- 
sponsible for the personnel of the army, that it is fed, 
clothed, properly commanded and stationed at suitable 
spots, and prepared for any eventuality. He has also 
the right of testing all stores as supplied by the other 
department. The Financial Secretary is answerable 
for contracts and that all expenses are defrayed. He 
also checks the accounts to be submitted to Parlia- 
ment, and sees that the principles sanctioned by the 
Treasury and ordered by the royal warrant are adhered 
to in all expenditure. 

The military side of the War Office is again sub- 
divided into ten main departments, each usually with 
a staff officer at the head, who is responsible to the 
Adjutant - General for the efficient working of his 
division. The civil side, presided over by the Financial 
Secretary, is subdivided into five main divisions. As 
this is the side which usually attracts the most interest, 
it may be well to enter into its arrangements with 
some little detail. The duties of the military side 
being entirely concentrated on the administration of 
military details hardly appeals in the same way to the 
general public. The five great divisions are the finance, 
contracts, clothing, ordnance, control. The finance is 
under the Accountant-General, who in the absence of 
the Financial Secretary signs for him. This branch 
is divided again into fourteen divisions, and is by far 
the largest in the War Office. 



2 1 2 GENERAL 

The Accountant-General is the adviser of the 
Financial Secretary on all matters relating to finance. 
He prepares the account for submission to the Houses 
of Parliament, and deals with every branch of ex- 
penditure throughout the service. The army pay de- 
partment, although distinctly an executive function, 
is also under his control, but will probably be trans- 
ferred to the military side in course of time. 

The Contracts division is under the Director- 
General of Contracts, who is responsible for purchases 
and sales, and supervises such, which are from their 
nature best made locally. He is also to some extent 
a check on the Ordnance division, as he compares and 
reports upon the cost of articles manufactured by it as 
compared Avith the same articles if obtained from the 
public. 

The Clothing department is under the Director- 
General of Clothing, who is answerable that adequate 
supplies are maintained not only for the forces on the 
active list, but also for such as may be required by 
the volunteers, &c., and for all troops that- would be 
required on mobilisation. The adequate and econo- 
mical working of the clothing factory is also under 
his charge, and all articles bought from the public 
have to be to a standard fixed by him. 

The Director-General of the Ordnance Factories is 
the adviser of the Financial Secretary on all questions 
of manufacture. All Avarlike stores not provided by 
contract are made under his direction. One of the 
main principles upon which the factories are conducted 
is that they must be self-supporting. 

The question of Government factories has been a 
subject of much discussion, their opponents main- 
taining that the public should be relied upon to supply 
all stores, upon the principle that the demand would 
always compel an adequate supply by the competition 
amongst the various firms. The answer is that, grant- 



THE BRITISH ARMY 213 

ing this to be the case in time of peace, it is hardly 
reasonable to suppose that private enterprise can be 
expected to maintain in idleness enough capital sunk 
in buildings and machinery to cope with the enormous 
output which would be necessary immediately a de- 
claration of war was made. Further, the Government 
factories afford an excellent standard by which to 
compute the prices to be paid for articles obtained by 
contract. The present arrangement is that the Govern- 
ment factories supply about one-third of the warlike 
stores required, while the remainder is obtained by 
public tender. This proportion, however, entails the 
employment by the Crown of nearly i 5,000 men. 

The Central division is practically the channel 
through which the Secretary of State obtains any in- 
formation on any subject that requires elucidation, 
and notably the means by which he is enabled to 
answer the numerous questions asked in the Houses of 
Parliament. Through this division is carried on the 
correspondence, &c., upon matters which affect the 
various other departments of State, and there is hardly 
one with which the War Office is not in almost con- 
tinuous comnumication. 

Questions of military interest which trench upon 
other State affairs, if they rise beyond matters of mere 
detail, are referred to either one or both of the two 
great standing committees — the Defence Committee, 
or the Colonial Defence Committee. 

The former — necessarily most cursory — sketch of 
the civil side of the War Office has, it is hoped, given 
some idea how the department is worked. The exi- 
gencies of space prevent the military side being treated 
in even such slight detail, but the different branches 
of the forces will be treated as fully as possible, 
and the duties of the military side may be con- 
sidered to be their maintenance and harmonious com- 
bination. 



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THE BRITISH ARMY 215 

The Militia is the constitutional force for the de- 
fence of the kingdom. By Statute 1285, every freeman 
between fifteen and sixty years of age was obliged to be 
provided with armour, but, except " upon the coming 
of strange enemies into the realm," was protected from 
leaving his county. The authority was vested in lords- 
lieutenant appointed by the Crown, and although altered 
under Queen Mary, was revived during the following 
reign, and at the time of the Spanish Armada they 
were recognised as the legal military heads of the vari- 
ous counties. After the Restoration the Militia Avas 
placed on a constitutional basis. It was then laid 
down that " the sole supreme command and disposition 
of the Militia, and of all forces by land and sea, is, and 
by the laws of England ever was, the undoubted right 
of the Crown." The offences of militiamen were to be 
punished by the civil magistrate. Trained bands, ex- 
cept in the city of London, were abolished, and the 
lord - lieutenant, under the authority of Parliament, 
became in his county an officer of the highest rank. 
The Militia was carefully fostered by Parliament as a 
counterpoise to the army ; the Crown, having no power 
to reduce its numbers, could only exert influence 
through the lords-lieutenants or their deputies, who 
were ahvays men of position and rank in their respec- 
tive counties. 

The Volunteers have for some time been very pro- 
minently before the public. In 1803 ^^ very large 
force was raised, but disappeared after Waterloo. As 
now constituted the force may be assumed to have 
originated in 1859, ''^^^^ '^'^^^ ^^^^ t,o the violent language 
used by the French press after the attempt by Orsini 
upon the life of Napoleon III. 

The discipline of the force is provided for by an 
Act passed in 1863 for ordinary purposes and under 
normal conditions. When working with regular troops 
or embodied for active service, the Army Act applies 



2i6 GENERAL 

to volunteers with the same effect as to the regular 
forces. The regulations dealing with the training of 
the volunteers are as lenient as they can possibly be, 
and perhaps err somewhat on that side, but it must be 
recollected that a very considerable proportion of those 
enrolled render themselves much more than merely 
efficient. It is very doubtful whether a higher mini- 
mum standard would have any real effect in raising 
the efficiency of the force. 

The more serious question is, how the instruction 
which is absolutely necessary in working in large 
bodies can be more thoroughly imparted. At present 
opportunities are rare for corps to operate in combina- 
tion, and until this can be arranged the training cannot 
be considered otherwise than as incomplete. Another 
very serious drawback from which the volunteers suffer 
is the dearth of officers. They are very little less than 
one-third of their strength deficient, and the tendency 
is for the proportion rather to increase than lessen. 
The cause of this condition is somewhat complex, but 
the principal reason is the expenses, which are un- 
avoidable in many corps. A more stringent supervision 
by commanding-officers over their corps' expenditure 
would doubtless to a great extent remedy this state 
of affairs, which at the present day is a very serious 
drawback to the efficiency of the whole force. 

Crime, in the military sense of the term, is very 
rare. Commanding -officers have very considerable 
powers with which to deal with it ^vhen arising. Their 
great difficulty is to deal with those members who join 
on the spur of a momentary zeal, and whose ardour, 
having evaporated, fail to make themselves efficient. 
All he can do is to dismiss the offender, which, 
unless he has a number of recruits anxious to be 
enrolled, means a reduction in the strength of his 
command. The fear that if occasion arose when the 
services of the volunteers became necessary, resigna- 



THE BRITISH ARMY 217 

tions would become numerous is probably groundless, 
and in any case is of no consequence, as the force 
when called out would be then under the Army Act, 
and no one able to resign without permission. Every 
efficient volunteer earns annually for his corps ;^ i , i 8s., 
and officers who have passed certain examinations very 
much larger amounts. 

The question of finance is one of the great diffi- 
culties which a corps has to meet, and the Government 
grant can hardly be considered as sufficiently generous. 
It is certainl}^ to be hoped that volunteering will in 
the near future be more popular than at present, and 
it is difficult to see why all able-bodied men should 
not be compelled to serve in their local force. It 
would cause little or no dislocation in the labour 
market, and the enormous advantage of such an im- 
mense body of men to some extent acquainted with 
drill and discipline can hardly be over-estimated. 

Infantry is undoubtedly the backbone of all 
modern armies, and although the prestige of the 
cavalry allows it to assume a position which is hardly 
justified by its real importance, it is universally ad- 
mitted that, since the introduction of gunpowder it 
occupies the second instead of the most prominent 
place among the various arms. 

It cannot be too strongly impressed that the vari- 
ous branches of the service exist merely to assist the 
infantry in delivering a crushing blow, and that how- 
ever brilliant the subsidiary arms may be, a force with- 
out good infantry offers but slight real danger to any 
foe well equipped in this respect. 

The infantry of our army is organised upon what 
is called the territorial system. It must not be as- 
sumed because a regiment is called after a certain 
county that the regular battalions when at home are 
quartered in their own localities. From the position 
of barrack accommodation and the exigencies of the 



2l8 



GENERAL 



service this has been found not practicable, but as a 
rule it may be noted that on return from a term of 
foreign service a battahon is stationed as near as pos- 
sible to its own district. 

In order to ^ive a oreneral idea of the three arms 
a short sketch will be given of each, tracing the in- 
fantry from its lowest tactical unit, the company, to 
the brigade or largest which has no portion of the 
other arms with it. Then, in the same way the artil- 
lery will be dealt with from battery to brigade division 
and cavalry from squadron to cavalry brigade. Be- 
yond these are Divisions, which is the smallest unit in 
which all three arms work together as a tactical unit, 
and army corps, which is the biggest unit recognised. 

In all cases the various arms are assumed to be on 
war footing. 

The infantry consists of Line, Militia and Volun- 
teer Guards, and Rifle Battalions. 

Guards battalions ....... lo 

Line and Kifle battalions ...... 157 



Total 



167 



Each battalion consists of eight companies and two 
depot companies. 



Company of Infantry — War Strength. 





Officers. 


Sergeants. 


Buglers. 


Rank and 
VWc. 


Total. 


Major or Captain 
Subalterns . . . 
Sergeants . 
liuglers .... 




I 
2 


S 


2 


106 


I 
2 

5 

2 

106 


Kaiik unci file . . 


Total . . 




3 


5 


2 


106 


116 



The next higher unit in Infantry is the battalion, 
as given on next page. 



THE BRITISH ARMY 



219 



War Strength of a Battalion. 








Ranks. 





c u 


rr. 

10 

I 


t 

"So 

a 
ffl 


■9 
c 

=»,; 
.MS 

P< 

3 
10 
21 

23 
8 

65 


Total. 

10 

4 
10 
21 

23 
8 

82 

928 


Lieutenant-ColDUcl . 
Major (second in command) 
Adjutant .... 
Quartermaster . 
Medical officer . 
Sergeant-major . 
Sergeants .... 
Machine-gun detacliment . 
Pioneers .... 

Band 

Drivers and waggon-men . 
Orderlies, batmen, and servant 


3 








Total battalion stafiE . 

Eight companies 

Total battalion in tlie field 

Left at base .... 


5 
24 


I 
I 
I 


II 




40 


16 
16 


848 

913 

98 

1,011 


29 


5^ 


1,010 

102 


I 


3 


16 


Total embarked 


• 




30 


54 


1,112 



The Infantry 


Bri 


gade 


is as 


follows 


. 










Detail. 


£ 





3 
116 

5 
3 

5 

132 

4 


Warrant 
Officers 
and Men. 


"3 


<u 


w 

II 

168 

no 
56 
28 

373 


a) 


1- 


■*^ 
U 

20 

4 
5 
2 

31 


m 

B 

m M 

I 

16 
19 

4 


10 


^ 




staff ...... 

Four battalions . 
Supply column 
Bearer comjiany . 
Field hospital . . . 

Total witli field force 
Total left at base . . 


24 

2,924 

116 

94 

56 

4,214 
426 


27 

4,040 

121 

97 
61 

4.346 
430 


4 
4 


4 
4 


I 

44 

23 

15' 

61 


40 


10 


89 



1 Numbers include personnel of Army Service Corps. 

Tliis is the largest body of Infantry without the 
addition of the other arms. Treating Artillery in the 
same manner, there are : — 



Horse Artillery, of 

Field 

Garrison mountain batteries 

Mountain batteries 

Total 



10^ 
104 ) 



28 batteries. 
151 

ti4 
293 



2 20 GENERAL 

The war strength of a battery is as follows :- 

War Strength of Batteries. 



Hanks. 



OflBcers 

Sergeants 

Artificers 

Trumpeters .... 

Corporals 

Bombardiers .... 

Gunners 

Drivers 

Total all ranks . . . 

Horses 

Mules 

Guns 

Ammunition waggons . 

Forge 

Ammunition and store . 

Store, waggons, and ) 

limbers . . . . ) 



u 


h 




^ 


<o • 








-O^l^ 


■« . 


S: 




c . 




,• 


c4 


SW 


0.2 


KS3 


S 


f^^ 


Plh ^ 


^ 


S 


^Pi 


iri 


.— 





IH 


H 


10 


5 


5 


5 


5 


8 


8 


8 


8 


lO 


9 


9 


10 


2 


2 


2 


2 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


9 


6 


74 


76 


85 


90 


68 


59 


71 


57 


179 


171 


19s 


184 


191 


131 


156 


18 
208 


6 


6 


6 


\ TS 


6 


6 


9 




I 


I 


I 




2 


2 


I 




I 


I 


I 




1 ^ 



Kemarks. 



1 The mountain 
battery has in addi- 
tion no muleteers, 
I per ordnance mule 
(second line), i per 
3 baggage mule, and 
5 per cent, to spare. 



Two Garrison Artillery companies in war strength 
number 199 of all ranks. 

The next higher unit for artillery is the Brigade 
Division, and for the R.H.A. is as follows : — 



A Brigade Division of Horse Artillery in the Field. 



Staff 

Two R.H.A. bat- ) 
teries . . . ) 

Total . . . 


Officers. 


Warrant 
Officer. 


Sergeants. 


Other 
Katiks. 

II 
332 


Total. Horses. 


4 
10 


I 
I 


3 
16 

19 


19 ! 20 
358 382 


14 


343 


377 402 



Transport, lo carts. 

The Brigade Division for Field Artillery consists 
of three batteries instead of two as in above. 



THE BRITISH ARMY 



2 2 1 



The details for cavalry arc, for tlie squadron, as 
foUoAvs : — 

The Squadron — War IStremjth. 

Major .... 



Captuin 
Subalterns . 

Squadron Sergeant-major 
,, Q.-M. -sergeant 

Sergeants . 
Farrier-sergeant , 
Corporal shoeiug-sniitli 
Shoeiiig-smitlis 
Saddler 
Trumpeters 
Corporals . 
Privates 
Drivers 
Batmen . . 
Cooks . 
Waggon-men 

Total all ranks 
Horses — 
Private . 
Public riding . 
„ pack . 
„ draught 

Total 



:l 



Officers 

Sergeants and Staff- 
Sergeants 

Artificers . 



lO 



2 Trumpeters 



1 08 
4 

12 



► Eank and file 



136 



18 

134 

I 
8 

161 



160 
Transport — 

I G. S. waggon (4-hor8e) baggage. 
I ,, ,, ,, supplies. 



Total, 2 vehicles, 
ig] 



After the squadron the next higher unit is the 
regiment, and that is composed as under : — 

Regiment of Cavalry Eistahlishment . 













5 


6 

E 




Horses. 






Public. 


Ranks. 




^ M 

3 ^ 




2 



.2 
a, 


-a 

a 

03 




S 




5 


to 


•4-> 








£ 


7 


r- 


00 


< 


a 
2 

H 


a 
34 


3 


> 


12 


3 

2 

a 

24 


.^ 


£ 


S3 


Regimental staff . 


I 


5 


4 


SI 


17 


Three service ) 
squadrons . J 


























18 




30 


18 


b 


408 


480 


54 


402 


24 


3 


483 


Total in field . . 
Left at base . . 


25 

I 


I 


35 


22 


6 


442 
SO 


531 

54 


71 


414 


48 


3 


536 


Total embarked . 


26 


I 


38 


22 


6 


492 


58.S 


71 


414 


48 


3 


S36 


Reserve squadron | 
at liome . . j 


8 
























I 


i'/ 


7 


4 


275 


312 


21 


199 


2 




222 


Total on mobili- ) 
satiou ... J 


























34 


2 


55 


29 


10 


7b7 


897 


92 


613 


so 


3 


758 



222 



GENERAL 



Still a step higher in the organisation of cavalry 
is the Cavalry Brigade, which is given below. Strictly 
speaking, it is not purely cavalry, as both artillery and 
mounted infantry form part of its establishment, but 
they are so entirely subservient, and only intended to 
support the cavalry, that this unit is justly considered 
as purely cavalry. 



The Cavalry Brigade. 













Vehicles. 








o 

e 

o 

4 
75 

6 


W. 0. am 
N. C. 0. 
and Men 


■3 


H 


TO 

0) 

to 


w 

22 
1,608 

19s 


c 
6 


3 


|.s 

« 

> 

I 
39 
II 


I 
42 

17 


Remarks. 


StafiF .... 
Three cavalry ) 

regiments. ) 
One battalion ) 

R.H.A. . f 


19 
i.5i8_^ 

176 


23 
1.593 

182 




Ammunitiou ) 
column . ) 


4 


106 


no 


105 






18 


18 




Two companies ) 
M.I. . . ( 


12 


294 


306 


310 




2 


9 


II 


j^ Has ii machine- 
N gun action ; two 
\ machine-guns. 


















Supply column . 


5 


120 


125 


124 






26 


26 


( 1st line of supply 
\ column. 
1 1st line of assist- 
j a n c e ; a m n g 
\ vehicles are ten 
V ambulances. 


Bearer company 


3 


94 


97 


56 






15 


15 




















Field hospital . 

Total with field ) 
force . . ) 


5 
114 


56 
2.383 


61 


28 
2,448 


6 


5 


6 
124 


6 
136 


I 2nd line of as- 
{ sistance. 


2.497 


Total left at) 
base . . i 


3 


242 


245 















Having dealt with the previous units composed 
entirely of one arm, the next step is the smallest unit 
in whicli they arc all combined, and this is the Divi- 
sion, with the following establishment : — 



THE BRITISH ARMY 



223 



The Infantry Division. 



Detail. 


2 


Q 


12 

264 

6 

19 
5 
2 

7 
6 

5 

326 
9 


Warrant 

Officer 

and Men. 


Total all 
Ranks. 


03 

£ 



t 

^ 

XT) 

H 

18 
18 


. 

i8 
18 


.5 w 

5 

8' 
8 




> 


CO 

_ K 
2 

128 

2 
50 
41 

III 
16 

6 
306 


Staff 

Two infantry brigades 
One squadron cavalry 
One brigade division field 1 

artillery . . ) 
Ammunition column 
Regimental staff division ) 

Engineers . . J 
One lield company Royal ) 

Engineers . . ) 
Supply column . 
Field "hospital . 

Total with field hospital . 

Total left at base 


55 
8,428 

154 

5" 
201 

5 

205 

93 
56 


67 

8,692 

160 

530 
206 

7 

212 

99 
61 


46 
746 
161 

409 

236 

4 

63 

87 
28 


32 
12 

44 


2 
128 

2 

14 
29 

II 
16 

6 
218 


9,708 


10,034 


1,780 


963 


972 









1 Carries 2 pontoons, 3 superstructures, 420 lbs. gun cotton. 

Having dealt with the Division, only one other 
unit remains, and that is the Army Corps, as below. 
When a force in the field consists of more than one 
Army Corps it is considered as composed of the 
number of Army Corps it contains, and would be 
described as an army of two or three Army Corps, as 
the case might be. 

In the details enumerated on p. 224 will be seen 
Corps Artillery, which is as follows : — 



Corps Artillery. 

One brigade division R.ll.A. of two batteries 

Three brigade divisions Field Artillery of three batteries each 



:} 



20 



Total with Army Corps .... 

The necessary transport for a battalion is carried 
in eleven carts, requiring, Avith spare men and horses, 
sixteen drivers and thirty-two horses and two pack 
animals each with a driver. 



224 



GENERAL 



CO 





s. 
miles 

uies, 
mical 


ns of 
and 

days' 
orage 


S 
a 


a 

QQ 








Q> ■—- -t^^J^ 






CC 










1 %' «5 


0) 

.a 










-5 5 -» u'^ 


& 


_o 








Is, d" 


h 
^ 


-4^ 

<1> 








« - -*^ :; -■ 


O O r- 


^-" 


32 






•a 

1 


§ °^ ° 2 a S 
o » s ?; o 

tc a) !13 ai K '~* in 


"•5 .• a 

111 !^ 
i 1-1 »: i 


3 

CO 


.a 
o 

1 

, en a Qj 








Ol » --; (U © . ^^ 




S) — 








• r- •- -^ -r- •r' O o 


•r* ••-' O -lo -•-= t-i 


•r >- 


00 > '^ 








i i ^ i i ^^ 


p *-" Q 03 r: o 


H o 








ij a-S 2 t;tw 


3 " 


a°8 

l-H W 








oa oo 


6 £ 


O 








tNOO -^OO O On M CO 00 " 


H W W CO 




NO 


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H H OO H 04 00 H 


M W CO 




W 







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w 


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Eh 



THE BRITISH ARMY 225 

Throughout the service the term of enhstment is, 
as a rule, for twelve years, of which seven are with the 
colours if at home, aud eight if abroad, the remainder 
being in the first-class reserve. 

In addition to this, in time of war or great national 
emergency, men can be retained with the colours for a 
further period of twelve months. As a rule, after five 
years' colour-service, should a man desire to return to 
civil life, there is no difficulty in his transfer to the 
Reserve for the remainder of his term. 

Although cavalry have long ceased to occupy the 
pre-eminent position they hold in the Middle Ages, it 
would be a fatal error to underrate their importance in 
modern warfare. The main duties which fall to their 
lot are the searching out of the opposing force and 
maintaining a continuous contact with it when found, 
and at the same time forming a network round their 
own army behind which it can move in comparative 
safety, secure in the knowledge that no enemy can 
attack without ample warning being received from the 
vedettes. 

Until the early part of the eighteenth century the 
artillery and engineers were in one body, when the 
Duke of Marlborough, in 17 16, formed two companies 
for the special purpose of working guns. Even at the 
present day their duties to some extent overlap, as the 
engineers are in charge of the submarine defences. 

Upon the Army Service Corps devolves the duty 
of supplying the army with all requisites both during 
peace and in war time. The immense labour this 
entails is perhaps best realised by considering that 
an army in the field of 100,000 men contains more 
individuals than the entire populaticm of either York 
or Doncaster. 

In addition to these various portions of the army 
there are several others of less apparent importance, 
but which are necessary if the whole is to form an 
V p 



2 26 GENERAL 

eft'ective fighting iiiacliine. Amongst these the Royal 
Army Medical Corps is the most conspicuous ; then the 
Ordnance Store, Judge, Advocate-General's, Chaplains', 
Pay, and Veterinary Departments, 

To supply the constant drain which must of neces- 
sity occur immediately a force takes the field there is 
the Reserve, and behind that again the Militia Reserve. 
That these together are insuflicient for the purpose is 
evident from the number of volunteers who have had 
to be enlisted during the South African War. The 
preceding is necessarily a most cursory sketch of 
the army, but space does not permit a further expan- 
sion. The war has shown up certain weaknesses and 
deficiencies in our military requirements, and it is a 
question of most serious public moment what would 
have been the result if our enemy had been a first- 
class European Power. Where would the necessary 
men have been found ? The Navy is presumably 
adequate to protect our shores and commerce, but 
without the efficient co-operation of land forces loses a 
vast portion of its power. In our early history every 
free man had to be armed, and it is difficult to realise 
any reason why all able-bodied men within certain 
ages should not be called upon to join the volunteers 
and make themselves efficient for home defence, so 
that in the event of a European war the regular army 
might be relieved from the care of the Kingdom and 
at the same time supplied with a vast source of trained 
men, many of whom would doubtless be prepared to 
temporarily join any force in the field. 

The principal authorities consulted have been 
" Military Forces of the Crown " (Clode), " The Army 
Book of the British Empire," and " Notes on Organi- 
sation and Equipment" (Lieut.-Coloncl Brunker). 



THE LAWS OF THE EMPIRE; 

MORE ESPECIALLY IN THEIR RELATION TO 
NATIVES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 
GOING TO THE BRITISH DOMINIONS 
BEYOND THE SEAS 

Bv FREDEUICK H. M. CORBET 

(Barrislcr-at-Law; .1/. Council Soc. Comparative Legislation ; 
M. Council British Empire Lcayuc, dx. <{;c.) 

This article is intended to present merely a rough out- 
line of the subject it treats of, for limitations of time 
and space forbid any more ambitious undertaking. It 
is written for the information of the " mere layman " 
only ; and it is little more than an attempt to state in 
a short and popular form the result of some of the 
learned disquisitions contained in well-known publica- 
tions, such as Clark's " Colonial Law," Burge's " Com- 
mentaries on Colonial and Foreign Laws," Lewis' 
" Government of Dependencies " (in Lucas' excellent 
edition), Tarring's " Law Relating to the Colonies " 
and the " Journal of Comparative Legislation." 

Throughout this article a liberal use of the legal 
lore enshrined in these works will be made, and many 
an abridged quotation and paraphrase from them will 
be oriven. For all of these a orrateful acknowledirment 
now in general terms must suffice, as it would be im- 
possible, without a multitude of notes, to give chapter 
and verse in each instance. 

The average native of the British Isles — if he is not 

aware of the difference between English and Scottish 

law at his very doors — when contemplating a visit to, 

227 



2 28 GENERAL 

or a prolonged residence in, any portion of that vastly 
greater Britain which lies beyond the seas, might 
reasonably Hatter himself that he can go from one 
part of the Empire to another Avithoiit alteration in his 
legal relations with his fellow-subjects. This, how- 
ever, is not the case, for wherever he may go he will 
find himself subject to fresh laws, more or less different 
from those of the place he left. The varieties are 
almost infinite in number. Not only are the systems 
of jurisprudence of five nationalities — the Dutch, 
English, French, Sicilian, and Spanish — in force in 
difterent parts of the British Dominions, and applicable 
to him, but the stage of development attained by any 
particular system at the time of its introduction into 
difterent places may vary. Thus in Quebec the old 
French law, the Coutume de Paris, is the foundation 
of the present jurisprudence, whilst in Mauritius it is 
the Code Napoleon. Added to this, the King in 
Council, occasionally, and some sixty separate Legis- 
latures, year by year, are at work piling up Orders 
and Statutes upon every conceivable subject, almost 
all these enactments being in some respects peculiar 
and adapted to local circumstances. 

For our present purpose the British Dominions 
beyond the seas may be divided into 

(A) Those acquired by occupancy. 

(B) Those acquired by cession or conquest. 
The distinction will be seen to be one of the 

greatest practical importance. 

The first class comprises those countries which, 
being entirely unpeopled, or peo[)lcd only by savage 
tribes not constituting a State, are occupied by British 
suljjects, and become incorporated into the Empire 
rather through the enterprise of individuals than by 
the deliberate action of the Government. 

With regard to colonies of this type, the general 
principle is that where an uninhabited country is 



THE LAWS OF THE EMPIRE 229 

discovered and planted by English siiltjects, all the 
English laws then in being arc ininiediately there in 
force. But this must be understood Avith many and 
great restrictions. Such colonists carry with them 
only so much of the English law as is applicable to 
their own situation and the conditions of an infant 
colony ; for instance, the general rules of inheritance 
and of protection from personal injuries. The artificial 
refinements and distinctions incident to the property of 
a great and commercial people, the laws of police and 
revenue — such especially as are enforced by penalties — 
the mode of maintenance of the established clergy, the 
jurisdiction of spiritual courts, and a multitude of 
other provisions, are neither necessary nor convenient 
for them, and therefore are not in force. It has been 
tersely said : Let an Englishman go where he will, he 
carries as much of law and liberty with him as the 
nature of things will bear. 

This view was succinctly expressed in the following 
solenm declaration made by the Legislature of the 
Bahamas in the preamble to a local Act, passed in the 
year 1799 • — 

" The common law of England is the best birth- 
rio'ht of En'dishmen and their descendants." 

Thus Lord Kingsdown observed in 1863 (Advocate 
General of Bengal v. Ranee Surnomoye Uossee), that when 
Englishmen establish themselves in an uninhabited 
or barbarous country, they carry Avith them not only 
the laws, but the sovereignty of their own State ; and 
those who live amongst them and become members 
of their community become also partakers of, and 
subject to, the same laAvs. 

Recent examples of the creation of Colonies by the 
action of private persons are to be found in the history 
of the Chartered Companies operating in Africa and 
the Pacific. 

In Colonies acquired by occupancy the intro- 



2 30 GENERAL 

duction of the law in force here is almost a matter 
of course, the majority of the inhabitants, or, at any 
rate, the most powerful and civilised portion, having 
been born and bred in the United Kingdom. It is, per- 
haps, an unconscious acknowledgment of the position 
of the '■ predominant partner," and it certainly is 
curious, even where the bulk of the new settlers are 
Scots or Irish, that one does not hear of any claim by 
them to be governed by the law of their native land, 
and that English law is accepted without a murmur. 

But, even so, we are still far from uniformity. 
The Colonies acquired by occupancy, having been 
settled at various times, differ greatly among them- 
selves with regard to the amount of English statute 
law in force there. 

Lord Mansfield laid it down, in 1769 {Rex v. 
Vaughan), that no Act of Parliament made after a 
Colony is planted is construed to extend to it without 
express Avords showing the intention of the Legislature 
to be that it should apply. 

Lord Blackburn remarked, in 1885 {The lAiuderdale 
Peerage), that " When the province of New York was 
founded by the English settlers who went out there, 
those English settlers carried with them all the im- 
munities and privileges and laws of England. The 
Englishmen in a province which had been so settled 
were as free Englishmen, with as much privilege, as 
those that remained in England. It is true that it is 
only the law of England as it was at that time which 
such settlers carry with them ; subsequent legislation 
in England altering the law does not affect their 
rights unless it is expressly made to extend to the 
province or the colony." 

The date of the settlement, in almost all cases, thus 
determines the time after which the statutes passed in 
the Mother Country, except where specially so pro- 
vided, cease to be applicable to the Colony; and these 



THE LAWS OF THE EMPIRE 23 j 

dates range over a period of more than two hundred 
years, from 1624, as regards Barbados, to 1889, as 
regards British New Guinea. 

The second class of Colonics to be considered are 
those obtained by conquest or cession ; and there the 
laws in force at the time of the change of Government 
are maintained until they are altered by competent 
authority. This matter has been the subject of some 
discussion, and it is interesting to trace the develop- 
ment of judicial opinion thereon. 

The rule Avas broadly laid down in Calvins Case, 
in 1609, by Lord Chancellor Ellesmere and twelve 
Judges, that, if a king come to a Christian kingdom 
by conquest, seeing that he hath vitce et necis potestatem, 
he may at his pleasure alter and change the laws of 
that kingdom ; but until he doth make an alteration 
of those laws, the ancient laws of that kingdom re- 
main. But if a Christian king should conquer a 
kingdom of an infidel, and bring it under his sub- 
jection, there, ipso facto, the laws of the infidel are 
abrogated, for that they be not only against Chris- 
tianity, but against the laws of God and nature con- 
tained in the Decalogue, and in that case, until certain 
laws be established amongst them, the king by himself, 
and such judges as he shall appoint, shall judge them 
and their causes according to natural equity, in such 
sort as kings in ancient times did with their kingdoms 
before any certain municipal laws were given. 

In 1693, Sir John Holt, Chief Justice (BlanJcard v. 
Galdy), observed that, where it was said in Calvins Case 
that the laws of a conquered heathen country do im- 
mediately cease, that may be true of laws for religion, 
but it seems otherwise of laws touching the govern- 
ment; and that in such cases, where the laws are 
rejected or silent, the conquered country shall be 
governed according to the rule of natural equity. 

The Lords of the Privy Council, as Sir Thomas 



232 GENERAL 

Sewell, Master of the Rolls, stated in 1722 (2 Peere 
Williams, p. 75), have determined that, where the 
King of England conquers a country, there the 
conqueror, by saving the lives of the people con- 
quered, gains a right and property in such people ; in 
consequence of which he may impose upon them what 
laws he pleases. But until such laws are given by 
the conquering prince, the laws and customs of the 
conquered country shall hold place, unless where these 
are contrary to our religion, or enact anything that is 
malum in se, or are silent ; for in all such cases the 
laws of the conquering country shall prevail. 

The opinion of Lord Mansfield, as expressed in 
1774 in a famous judgment {Campbell v. Hall), was 
that the laws of a conquered country continue in force 
until they are altered by the conqueror ; and he speaks 
of " the absurd exception as to Pagans mentioned in 
Calvin's Case." 

The views of Lord Ellenborougli, as indicated in 
the course of the trial of a Colonial Governor in 1 8 1 o 
(Eex V. Picton), seem to have been in accordance with 
the opinion just quoted, and he was much impressed 
with the practical difficulty of deciding according to 
the tests proposed, what portion of the law of a 
conquered country was in force, and what not. 

Lord Stowell, on the other hand, when a question 
of the kind came before him in 182 i (Ending v. Smith), 
said that, even with respect to the ancient inhabitants, 
no small portion of the ancient law is unavoidably 
superseded by the revolution of government that has 
taken place. The allegiance of the subjects, and all the 
law that relates to it, must undergo alterations adapted 
to the change. The laws which prevailed in the con- 
quered territory may be harsh and oppressive in the 
extreme — may contain institutions abhorrent to the 
feelings and opinions and habits of the con(|nerors, 
and can "be but imperfectly understood ; and that they 



THE LAWS OF THE EMPIRE 233 

should all of them instantaneously attach and con- 
tinue obligatory upon them, was a proposition which he 
thought a professor of general law would be inclined 
to consider cautiously before it could be universally 
accepted. The case which Lord Stowell had to deal 
with, however, was one of an exceptional character, 
where the proposition referred to, if strictly enforced, 
would have worked injustice. 

Mr. Clark {Colonial Law, 1834, p. 4), after referring 
to some of these decisions, said that the doubt thrown 
upon the somewhat sweeping terms of the doctrine as 
stated in Calvin's Case might be justified not only on 
principles of reason, but even by the practice of the 
English Government. If unchristian or immoral in- 
stitutions were ipso facto abrogated, then it would have 
been out of the power of the English to have tolerated 
them even for a moment. Yet they had done so in 
their East Indian possessions in the case of the Suttee 
and the barbarous rite of Jugrgfernaut. The immoral 
or unchristian nature of such customs afforded a reason 
for abrogating them, but then such abrogation must 
be the effect of the declared will of the conqueror, and 
could not take place as of course and unavoidably on 
the instant of the conquest. 

Lord Sto well's objections arc met by the modern 
theory of territorial rather than personal application 
of laws. Lord Mansfield, indeed, had already held in 
1774 (Campbell v. Rail) that "the law and legisla- 
tive government of every dominion equally aiiects 
all persons and all property within the limits thereof; 
and is the rule of decision for all questions which arise 
there. Whoever purchases, lives, or sues there, puts 
himself under the law of the place. An Englishman 
in Ireland, Minorca, the Isle of Man, or the planta- 
tions, has no privilege distinct from the natives." 

It is Avell that this should be so, and that both 
under the common law, in the case of conquered 



2 34 GENERAL 

Colonies, and by express provision, in the case of 
ceded Colonies, the pre-existing laws should remain 
in force. It is sufficient that they can be altered 
and amended subsequently by special legislation as 
occasion may arise. To endeavour at the outset to 
force a new system of law upon a conquered people, or 
upon one which has (probably unwillingly) come under 
the dominion of the British Crown by virtue of a 
treaty or capitulation, would tend to create grave dis- 
satisfaction and seriously aggravate the difficulties of 
absorbing an alien population into the Empire. The 
less disturbance of pre-existing laws, the less difficulty 
in accepting a foreign government. And the advan- 
tage of the system of territorial jurisdiction is seen not 
only in the case of the newly- conquered or ceded 
population, but also in that of the alien who finds 
himself in British territory. He becomes temporarily 
a subject of the Crown ; bound by, subject to, and 
entitled to the protection of, the local law, on the same 
footing as if he were a British subject. 

The maintenance of the systems of law which were 
found in force in certain of the Colonies, has had 
another and an inestimable advantage for the Empire 
at large, in that it has helped us to understand and 
appreciate the greatest of the legacies left to us by 
Imperial Rojne — the Civil Law — and has forced us to 
learn something of the defects of our Common Law, 
and to see our deficiencies as legislators. 

English law may still be described in the words 
of Lord Tennyson as 

" The lawless science of our law, 
That codeless myriad of precedent, 
Tliat wilderness of single instances." 

It may be said that the determination of any given 
question frequently turns upon a reconciliation of, or 
a compromise between, the sometimes contradictory 



THE LAWS OF THE EMPIRE 235 

and generally inconsistent views of Mr. Justice A. and 
Mr. Justice B. on particular facts ; never exactly the 
same as, but bearing some analogy to, the facts in- 
volved in the question. It is given only to the most 
gifted of mortals to discover the juristic notions — the 
principles of justice — underlying these decisions. One 
is bound to suppose they are there; l»ut the word 
" principle " seldom occurs. The learned judges ex- 
pend themselves upon the difficulties thrown in their 
path by their predecessors. Or they stumble after some 
great judge who, rising above the petty details of the 
case before him, has, with rare courage, taken upon 
himself the neglected functions of the legislator, and 
has laid down a rule of general application, or formu- 
lated a wide legal proposition. There is often no 
authority on which one can rely, and to the ordinary lay 
mortal it is all sheer chaos. The practitioner breathes 
a sigh of relief when he finds that in some past genera- 
tion, provided it is not too remote, some eminent lawyer 
and man of genius, like Lord Mansfield, or Baron Parke, 
having broken through the trammels of precedents or 
extracted something tangible from them, has enun- 
ciated a principle of law. But his sense of confidence 
may prove a treacherous lure if he takes his case to 
the House of Lords, where the decisions even of great 
Chief Justices and Lord Chancellors are sometimes 
overruled or explained away — " distinguished " is the 
polite term for the latter process.^ 

It is true, of course, that immense strides have 
been made in the last hundred years in the reform of 
English law, and that a few branches of it have been 
admirably codified, but as a system (Heaven save the 
mark !) it is still far from satisfactory to the least 

1 The Lord Chief Justice of England made some weighty observa- 
tions on the danger of paying too niucli regard to precedents and too 
little to principles in a speech delivered at Glasgow in August 1901, 
when this article was already in type. 



2 36 GENERAL 

exacting of critics. And one shudders to think how 
httle removed we are in point of time from the bar- 
barous criminal law of the first part of the nineteenth 
century, or the desperately stupid state of affairs so 
vividly described by Dickens, when Law and Equity 
were administered by different and antagonistic courts ! 

That much still remains to be done is well illus- 
trated by recent judicial statistics, which show that 
in a large percentage of the cases carried from the 
Court of Appeal to the House of Lords, the judgments 
appealed against were reversed. With the vicissitudes 
which beset the earlier stages of litigation in the 
English Courts, and with the interesting (and costly) 
differences of opinion on points of law among counsel, 
between them and the judges, and among the judges 
themselves, many people have been privileged to be- 
come familiar from personal experience. They need 
no statistics beyond those contained in their cheque 
books to enable them to realise " the glorious un- 
certainty of the law." 

How different is the picture drawn by Sir Henry 
de Villiers (" Journal of Comparative Legislation," 
1 90 1, p. I) of the state of affairs whore the Roman- 
Dutch law is in force. " Every practising lawyer in 
South Africa knows . . . that lie possesses in the 
jurisprudence of Rome, which had been silently trans- 
ferred into the Dutch law before its introduction at 
the Cape, a treasure-house of principles to assist and 
guide him where other recognised authorities fail him. 
A difference of opinion among judges in the South 
African Courts upon disj)utod questions of law is of 
rare occurrence, and the number of appeals from the 
Cape Supremo Court to the Judicial Committee of the 
Privy Council bears a very small proportion to the 
appeals from other Colonies where the English Common 
Law prevails." 

Roman law being the basis of the jurisprudence 



THE LAWS OF THP: EMPIRE 237 

of some of our most important Colonies, including 
those in South Africa, it is worth while to consider 
a few opinions of men qualified to pronounce upon it. 
The contrast with English law is not soothing to one's 
national pride, but Ave nmst reconcile ourselves to the 
fact that the British do not shine as law-makers. 

The historian Gibbon (' Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Empire") begins his famous chapter on Roman 
Law with the following eloquent passage : — 

" The vain titles of the victories of Justinian are 
crumbled into dust ; but the name of the leiifislator is 
inscribed on a fair and everlasting monument. Under 
his reign, and by his care, the civil jurisprudence was 
digested in the immortal works of the Code, the Pan- 
dects, and the Institutes ; the public reason of the 
Romans has been silently or studiously transfused into 
the domestic institutions of Europe ; and the laws of 
Justinian still command the respect or obedience of 
independent nations." 

A learned lawyer of the seventeenth century, Sir 
Robert Wiseman ("The Law of Laws," 1686), speak- 
ing of the Civil Law, observes: — "Anything that is 
irrational, unnatural, absurd, partial, unjust, inmiodest, 
ignoble, treacherous, or unfaithful, that law abhorreth ; 
and ... it is the more perfect image and representa- 
tion of nature, and of the equity and reason nature 
prescribes to human actions, that was ever yet pre- 
sented or set forth to the world in a law." 

Mr. l^urge ("Colonial and Foreign Laws," 1838) 
says: — "The observation of a jurist, ' Servatur ubique 
JUS liOmamim non rationc imperii sed rationis imperio' ^ 
expresses the authority which the jurists of Holland. 
France, and the other States of Europe ascribe to it." 

Sir Nicolas Tindal, Chief Justice, in 1843 (Acton v. 
Blundell) declared : — " The Roman Law forms no rule 

^ Roman law has been everjwliere preserved not by reason of 
authority, but by the authority of reason. 



238 GENERAL 

binding in itself on the subjects of these realms" (i.r. 
except in Scotland and in certain colonies) ; " but in 
deciding a case upon principle, where no direct autho- 
rity can be cited from our books, it affords no small 
evidence of the soundness of the conclusion at which 
w^e have arrived if it prove to be supported by that 
law — the fruit of the researches of the most learned 
men, the collective wisdom of ages, and the ground- 
work of the municipal law of most of the countries of 
Europe." 

Lord Mackenzie ("Roman Law," 7th ed. 1898) 
tells us that '• in the cultivation of law the Romans 
carried off the palm from all nations of antiquity " 
(p. 33). He speaks of " the excellence of their private 
law, the value of which is acknowledged by the most 
eminent English jiu-ists " (p. 46). He says that " the 
Roman law not only possesses a universal scientific 
value which it can never lose, but preserves also in- 
directly a practical value, in this sense, that it forms 
the basis of the new civil codes of difierent States, 
besides furnishin"' an inexhaustible store of (general 
principles for the decision of questions constantly 
occurring in daily practice which are not settled by 
statute, precedent, or usage " (p. 48). And he refers 
to the famous Roman lawyers who built up the Civil 
Law, " as the great lights of jurisprudence for all time " 

(P- 17). 

Sir Robert i'hillimore has this appreciation in his 
"Commentaries upon International Law" (3rd ed. 
1879):— 

" And to all nations, whatsoever and wheresoever, 
tliis law presents the unbiassed judgment of the 
calmest reason, tempered by equity, and rendered 
perfect, humanly speaking, by the most careful and 
patient industry that has ever been practically applied 
to the affairs of civilised man (p. 34). . . . Besides the 
actual compilations of Roman Law, the Commentaries 



THE LAWS OF THE EMPIRE 239 

upon them — for the Hke reason of their comprehen- 
siveness, impartiality, wisdom, and enlarged equity — 
are of great use and constant service in elucidating the 
rules of justice" (p. ^6). 

It is evident from what has been said that natives of 
the United Kingdom going to the British Dominions 
beyond the seas will find there either English law, 
more or less modified by local enactments, or else 
some system of jurisprudence based on the Roman 
Civil Law, and therefore in nowise inferior. 

In the following rough list the British Dominions 
have been grouped according to the laws in force there 
with which the European inmiigrant is concerned. In 
many cases there are, of course, indigenous laws and 
customs as Avell, but these are applicable to the original 
inhabitants only, and need not be considered here. 

A. — Colonies, &c., tvkere Natives of the United Kingdom 
are under English Law, tentatively shoiving the dates 
after ivhich the subsequent Acts of the Imperial Par- 
liament are not aj^plicahle unless specially made to 

apply- 

Antigua 1632 \ 

Bahamas ....... 1629 

Barbados 1624? 

Bermuda 1 609 ? 

Britisli Columbia .... November 19, 1858 

British Honduras . . . . 1888? 

British New Guinea . . . 1889 

Cyprus December 21, 1878 

Dominica October 7, 1763 

Falkland Islands Tanuary i, 1850 

Fiji January 2, 1875 

Gambia 1816? 

Gibraltar December 31, 1883 

Gold Coast July 24, 1874 

Grenada January 10, 1784 



240 GENERAL 

Hong Kong April 5, 1 843 

India 1726? 

Jamaica 1655 

Labuan 1846 

Lagos July 24, 1874 

Manitoba July 15, 1870 

Montserrat 1632 ? 

Nevis 1628 1 

New Brunswick . . . 17 13 

Newfoundland ^^33 

New South Wales .... 1828 

New Zealand January 14, 1840 

Nigeria 1900? 

North-West Territories . July 15, 1870 

Nova Scotia 1 7 1 3 

Ontario October 15. 1791 

Prince Edward Island . 17 13 

Queensland 1828 

St. Christopher 1623? 

St. Helena 165 1 

St. Lucia _ . . Theoretically French law 

should apply, but in 
practice English law has 
been introduced by the 
judges in most cases. 
See class B. 

St. Vincent 1763 

Sierra Leone 1787 

South Australia December 28, 1836 

Straits Settlements . 1826 

Tasmania 1828 

Tobago All " suitable " statutes for 

the time being in force in 
England are applicable 

Trinidad Knglisli law governs all 

recent transactions, and 
Spanish law applies only 
to some previous to 1 847. 
See class B. 



THE LAWS OF THE EMPIRE 241 

Victoria 1828 

Virgin Islands 1672? 

Western Australia .... 1829 
Western Pacific (within the 
jurisdiction of the High 

Commissioner) .... All statutes for the time 

being in force in Eng- 
land are applicable 

B. — Colonies, c&c, where the Roman Civil Law prevails as 
the basis of the jurisjjrudence applicable to Natives of 
the United Kingdom. 

British Bednianaland . . . Roman Dutch Law 

British Guiana Roman Dutch Law 

Cape of Good Hope . . . Roman Dutch Law 

Ceylon Roman Dutch Law 

Malta Sicilian Law 

Mauritius French Codes of 1814 

Natal Roman Dutch Law 

Orange River Colony . . . Roman Dutch Law 

Quebec French Law : Coulumes 

de Paris 

Rhodesia Roman Dutch Law 

St. Lucia French Law : Coutumes 

de Paris. See also in 
class A. 
Seychelles Islands .... French Codes of 18 14 

Transvaal Roman Dutch Law 

Trinidad Spanish Law as regards 

certain transactions be- 
fore 1847. '^66 also in 
class A. 



\_See Note, p. 2 3 7. J 



Q 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 

INTRODUCTION 
By R. W. MURRAY 

It is gratifying to those avIio liave for many years 
studied the Imperial question from distant lands to 
find, that what is called the Imperial idea has at last 
caught the grip of the people of England. It is well 
within a quarter of a century that the most eloquent 
Englishman of his day nearly persuaded the people of 
the British Isles to shake off all Imperial responsi- 
bilities, so as to make Great Britain happy and con- 
tented by isolation from the responsibilities of Empire, 
and to let the people of her isles grow fat and con- 
tented on free trade. It was indeed bringing England 
down somewhat to the level of what Holland is at the 
present day. The common-sense of Great Britain, 
however, which is the foundation of the welfare and 
the strength of these islands, asserted itself. It is to 
the honour of Lord Roscbery that, before passing an 
opinion upon colonial questions, he visited the Colonies, 
and on his return he said he thought that no person 
was qualified to be a Minister of the Crown unless he 
had visited the Colonies. 

We have now happily come to this stage that 
whatever may be the opinion respecting domestic 
legislation, the Imperial connection with England's 
Colonies and her Dependencies have become a national 
creed. It is well that it should be so, and I think I 

sliall be able to show you in some degree the heritage 

242 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 243 

you hold througli the self-denying efibrts of j^jur 
missionaries and the bravery of your race. 

Of course I am not going to take you through all 
the elaborate statistics Avhich prove how vast is the 
railway systems of Greater Britain. For the purpose 
of my argument I will condense the result of a study 
of the Blue Books. The National Debt of Great 
Britain is something just under i^6 5 0,000,000, The 
money invested in the railways of Greater Britain, in- 
cluding India, is just under ^^5 90,000,000. The mile- 
age of the r lilways in the United Kingdom is a little 
over 20,000 miles, and the mileage of Greater Britain, 
including India, is just over 54,000 miles. Now what 
does all this mean ? 

In the first place, you may take it that the expen- 
diture on railways brought to English industries a 
preponderating amount of profit in their construction. 
When British workmen will permit it, Great Britain 
will always supply her Colonies with the material for 
railway construction, such as sleepers, rails, and car- 
riages. When the workmen of Great Britain are so 
blind as to give other markets the o])portunities of 
stepping in, Great Britain will lose much of her trade, 
consequently of her prosperity. Again, in the Colonies 
and Dependencies it is a happy state of things that 
nearly all the railways are State railways. This means 
that the people are the owners of the railways, and are 
able to bring pressure upon the Government when it 
is needed in case of neglect of the comfort of the 
passengers, or anything happens which affects the 
traffic. It would be a good thing for England if her 
railways were all State railways ; but I suppose there 
is no statesman \yho will ever grapi)le with the great 
monopolies held by the railway companies of Great 
Britain, which, after all, do their work exceedingly well, 
and give such conveniences to the British public in 
every way. 



244 GENERAL 

It is not, however, upon the railway workings of 
England that I am asked to speak. I only wish to 
draw comparisons, and the comparisons are not to the 
disadvantage of the Colonial systems. 

We have no strikes in the Colonies, There was 
one attempted some years back in one of the great 
Continents, which proudly recognises Great Britain as 
the Mother Country. The Government at that place 
utilised the machinery for keeping order, and made 
the men obey the law, for the law was made by the 
men ; that is to say, they elected their representatives 
to Parliament and had a free hand in the methods of 
government which they liked best, and the Govern- 
ment said : 'As you have made the laws you must 
obey them, and we are not going to allow you to be so 
wanton and so wilful as to injure yourselves individu- 
ally, as well as the country in which you live." 

In respect of the railways of Greater Britain I 
have indicated to you how great is the paymefit to 
English industry by the construction of railways in 
Greater Britain. Then you have to remember that 
this large loan is raised in Great Britain, which has 
been styled, and with good reason, the banking-house 
of the world. In addition, therefore, to the earnings 
obtained in the manufacture of railway plant, there 
are a number of investors who get their profit on 
Colonial and other loans under the British flag. You 
will see, therefore, that the interest on ;^ 5 90,000,000 
gives to England every year, from an investor's point 
of view, taking it all round, say at 4 per cent., some- 
where about ;i^ 2 3,600,000. 

I think these figures will speak so strongly them- 
selves that it would be idle, as it would be presump- 
tuous, of me to add anything to them. 

Going back to the original text on which I propose 
to address you, I should Hke to confine myself for the 
moment to Africa. Africa, like India and the East, 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 245 

is a larij^c problem. It can only be solved upon com- 
mercial Hues well adjusted and fair all round ; that is 
to say, if the Government of the British Isles under- 
takes responsibilities, it improves the conditions of the 
peoples it has under its protection and for whose 
welfare it is responsible. The history of Great Britain 
shows that its government has never left a country, 
the future of Avhich it associated itself with, poorer 
than it fovmd it. We have that fact in a very re- 
markable degree in the occupation of Egypt, and 
perhaps in a more remarkable degree in respect of 
India. As far as the Colonies are concerned they 
have built up their own destinies, greatly stimulated 
by the sympathy and support of the mother land. It 
is very often asserted by those who attempt to rival 
Great Britain in her commercial relations with the 
world, that she has been too grasping in her greed 
for extension of her empire. It might be argued, from 
the British point of view, that she has been often very 
neglectful. But whenever she has made mistakes, she 
has paid for those mistakes Avith great good temper 
and nuich kindness. 

Rome flourished by being a military power, and it 
ceased to exist because the lust of power and the 
glory of conquest could not last for ever. The stability 
of the British Empire is based upon its humanitarian 
consideration and its commercial instincts. You Avill 
see how these commercial instincts act throus^h the 
capital which is employed in the construction of rail- 
ways in what were once thought sterile as well as 
barbaric lands. What were once, and not many years 
ago, descril)ed as great deserts in Africa we now find 
fertile plains. Where there was no water we have 
found that water is obtainable in the deserts of Egypt 
at no great depth, as is found everywhere south of the 
Zambesi, With sunshine and water almost anything 
can be grown. Just think what will happen in Egypt 



246 GENERAL 

when modern work will not only bring about an oasis 
in the desert, but will, by a system of irrigation, make 
great stretches of land basking in fertility to the 
happiness of its people. Africa, which has always 
been considered a land of mystery, has in a few years 
sprung to considerable importance in the imagination 
and the desire of the great governing powers of the 
earth. 

When Stanley went into Africa to find whether 
Livingstone was alive or dead it was indeed a Dark 
Continent, which any European Power which had the 
will or the money might have helped itself to with- 
out trouble south of the sources of the Nile. To-day 
we find great Powers trying to get some footing in 
Africa as in Asia. 

I think in the figures which I gave you at the 
beginning of my remarks you will see what this 
scramble for territorial expansion means. It means in 
a homely expression nothing more nor less than bread 
and butter, and something more for those who live at 
home. There is nothing about that to be ashamed of 
from the point of a national sentiment. If the people 
at home like to live at home and like to husband the 
resources earned to the British Isles by its adventurers 
or whatever else you may call them, they are fairly 
entitled to all profit which may be earned through 
their thrift. 

In respect of South Africa I know it is popular to 
abuse the German Government of to-day for its activity 
and its desire to have Colonies, but it occurs to me 
that Germany has done great good to England in 
awakening the British Government and the British 
people to the fact that South African territory is not so 
valueless as British statesmen in the past conceived it 
to be. Lot us hope it will be good for Africa as a 
whole. The genius of finance and the national com- 
mercial aptitude which formed the British character 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 247 

will do for Africa generally Avhat has already been 
achieved for Egypt. 

It is perfectly certain that the French shareholders 
in the Suez Canal at the bottom of their hearts are 
delighted at the British occupation of Egypt. It is 
also a fact that thousands of Germans have gladly 
lived, and are gladly living, under British rule in South 
Africa and under the British Hag in various parts of 
the Avorld. It is not German character which colonists 
object to, but the methods of government of German 
iron rule. 

Now if you will glance at a map of Africa let us 
see where, how, and by whom the conquest of that 
land is to be achieved by the aid of railways. You 
will see that in South Africa the railway is creeping up, 
or rather it ^is going very fast ahead, to the great water- 
way of the Zambesi. You will see that from the north 
the railway is being pushed ahead with marvellous 
strides towards the lake regions of Central Africa. On 
the east of Africa you will see striking into the tropical 
region opposite Zanzibar a railway to the healthy and 
productive highlands. On the west coast you have a 
railway following a bank of the Congo, some 200 miles 
being already constructed, on its way to the lake regions 
of Central Africa, where natives have lived through 
goodness knows how long a period of time, fed, so to 
say, by the bounteous gifts of Nature that their only 
conception of life was indolent luxury or cruel and 
merciless warfare. The adaptability of the native to 
work is very remarkable. I am speaking precisely of 
the African native. We find him most amenable to 
discipline. Wo have illustrations of that in what has 
happened on the West Coast of Africa a few months 
back. We have it in the peaceful settlements of the 
Cape Colony. We find the fidelity of the native proved 
to us by the way in which native carriers accompanied 
Stanley from East to West of Central Africa. 



248 GENERAL 

We have the knowledge of the wealth of Africa, 
of its immense labour capabilities, and of the produc- 
tiveness of the ground on which labour can be utilised. 
There is no more wild dream about a railway and lake 
communication being complete in a very short period 
from Alexandria to Cape Town, than there was in the 
dream of the construction of the Suez Canal or the 
railway through Canada from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific Ocean. And now that Australian Federation 
is accomplished, it is hoped intercommunication will 
grow apace, but it is a pity a common gauge was not 
agreed upon, before the first line was laid. 

In South Africa, as in Canada and elsewhere under 
the British flag, some very remarkable railway feats 
have been achieved. From the Cape of Good Hope 
to Bulawayo the land rises in terraces or plateaus, and 
when mountain ridges have been climbed long stretches 
of flat lands exist, so that after the mountain and 
valleys have been passed railway construction is very 
easy. 

I will now show you how railways are being con- 
structed on the level plains of Africa. There is not 
much trouble if there is good system in laying down 
over a mile a day. This has been done on what is 
called the northern extension of the Cape Railway. 
It is highly creditable to the military authorities in 
Egypt that, perhaps seeing what had been accomplished 
down South, they had surpassed in speed the construc- 
tion of their railway as compared Avith the rapid work 
of the Bechuanaland Railway Company. The process 
of laying the rails on these level lands is very easy. 
The material train supplies to the men the rails aud 
the sleepers, one set of men measures the distances at 
which the sleepers should be placed, when they are 
placed another set of men lay the rails on the sleepers, 
another set of men follow on and fasten up the rails 
to the sleepers, the material train comes over the 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 249 

newly laid section, and in this way railways are now 
beings made in Africa. 

It has been asserted, and reference to returns will 
prove the truth of the assertion, that railways in South 
Africa have been undertaken on sound commercial 
lines — this, notwithstanding the fact of the bravery 
with which the mountain barriers were assailed. About 
100 miles from Cape Town the great wall-like range 
of mountains which seemed to be placed by Nature to 
protect the native tribes from the advance of civilisa- 
tion has been conquered by the skill of engineers. 
The railway works its way up the mountain side, soar- 
ing above fertile valleys through which the Hex River 
supplied by mountain torrents rushes to the sea, until 
the summit of the mountain range has been reached, 
covering a distance of about thirty-six miles from the 
valley to the summit in two or three hours, an altitude 
of over 3000 feet. 

In the way of mountain scenery, I who have 
travelled somewhat know of nothing very much more 
grand than going up by rail these Hex River mountains, 
especially in the Avinter season of the year. Then 
when the days are fine — and there are more fine days 
than cloudy days in South Africa — the sky is cloudless 
and the sun shining out of the azure of the heavens 
lights up the bold ridges of the snow-clad mountains. 
It is a strange country which the railway traverses after 
this. To those who do not know, the land might, in 
the words of Sir George Cathcart, be described as a 
howling wilderness, yet in the summer-time, when the 
rains have fallen and the plains are ablaze with 
gorgeous colouring of wild flowers which carpet the 
land as far as the eye can reach, nothing more beautiful 
could well be conceived. Yet this land, so barren-looking 
in the winter season, is one of the finest sheep-walks 
in the world. In the valleys comfortable homesteads 
nestle with fruit-trees and crops in their seasons, indi- 



2 50 GENERAL 

eating wliat sunshine, soil, and water can do. Then 
on the coast-lines of East South Africa there is some 
exquisite scenery. After leaving Port Elizabeth by 
steamer for some hundreds of miles, when the day is 
fine and the ship is close to shore, even the coasts of 
Devon Avould not seem more beautiful than the land 
which lies between Port Elizabeth and Natal. 

Whilst the main trunk line of railway proceeds 
direct from Cape Town to the north, we find important 
harbours along the coast, such as Port Elizabeth, East 
London, and Natal, by their railways already in exis- 
tence, aiming not only at reaching the far interior 
trade, but naturally developing the country through 
which they pass. In addition to the railways which 
already exist there are several projected ones, and the 
one which will proceed from St. John's River mouth 
throusfh the magnificent forests and the ever a^rass- 
clad plains of Pondoland and East Griqualand will 
charm the tourist as it will enrich the land. This line 
will join the Natal and Cape Colony systems. Other 
lines — as the south-coast line, which will bring Cape 
Town and Port Elizabeth into more direct communi- 
cation, Kroonstad and Harrismith line in the Orange 
River Colony, and the Salisbury and Bulawayo line 
in Rhodesia — are being constructed. 

I mention this to show you that South Africa is not 
devoid of beautiful scenery ; indeed, the surroundings of 
Cape Town are grand. Behind the ports of Port Eliza- 
beth, East London, and Durban, there is country not 
only l)eautiful to look at, but of great productiveness, 
and the traveller may go all the world over in vain to 
find anything more entrancing than the scenery of 
St. John's River. 

It is well for Englishmen at home to know that in 
the British Empire there are countries such as this, 
and I think you will* agree with me, that if England 
had Iieen led astray so as to give up the responsibilities 



THE IIAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 251 

of Empire and to have lost such lands, she would have 
fallen away from her very high estate. 

There is one remarkable thing about the difficulties 
which those who honestly strive to grapple with Im- 
perial questions after long study have to face. It is 
the haste of visitors and others in jumping at con- 
clusions. Some twenty years ago we were told that 
Australia was going to have a flag of its own and, 
therefore, was going to sever its connection with the 
British Empire ; Canada, we were told, because of the 
large leaven of French-born colonists there, would also 
desire to sever her connection with Great Britain, and 
as Australia and Canada have both shown by acts and 
deeds they do not intend to do anything of the sort, 
that their loyalty to the British flag is as intense as it 
is with home-staying people, the charge of disloyalty is 
now being hurled at South Africa. No greater mis- 
take can be made. South Africa is loyal to the British 
connection, but what it does want is to be left alone to 
its own domestic legislation ; and if there are trouble- 
some questions in the country to solve, they have been 
created by the ignorance or indifference of British 
statesmen in the past. It is a very hard task for the 
statesmen of the present day to clear up past misunder- 
standings caused by others. But I take upon myself 
to say, after very long and intimate acquaintance with 
Africa, that I believe South Africa, as a whole, is as 
loyal to her Majesty the Queen of England as any 
of the Colonies or Dependencies of Great Britain. It 
must be remembered that in South Africa during the 
last twenty years there has been a great infusion of 
energy through the marvellous discovery of mineral 
wealth, and it is well known that in all countries which 
bound ahead in this manner there are feverish moods, 
arrogant pretensions, and wild escapades. All this 
settles down in time to the survival of the fittest. 

Railways are not only civilisers, but pacificators ; 



25 2 GENERAL 

they mean in barbaric countries the placing at the 
disposal of the Government means of defence against 
lawlessness. When the land has emerged from bar- 
barism into a civilised condition it brings what were 
distant communities into closer communication. Mis- 
understandings disappear through friendly intercourse. 
I have always held that railways by bringing people 
together, which leads so often to matrimony, is the 
true solution of what is called the South African 
problem. Probably the same solution is being and 
will be effected in other parts of the Empire. 

The railways of Greater Britain are, therefore, the 
mainstay of the Empire taken in connection Avith the 
steamships Avhich are, by their ever-increasing speed, 
bringing England in closer and closer communication 
Avith not only her colonies but with other parts of the 
world. 



INDIAN RAILWAYS 
By a K. CONNELL 

Of all the consequences of the establishment of British 
rule in India the construction of railways is the most 
far-reaching. By their means a vast continent with an 
area of over 1,500,000 square miles, and a population 
of nearly 290,000,000, or about one- fifth of that of 
the inhabited world, has within the short period of 
fifty years been brought within the range of the com- 
mercial competition of the Western world. Half a 
century ago, except in those parts which by being on 
the coast or adjacent to navigable rivers, India was 
economically and industrially self-sufficing. Its popula- 
tion fed and clothed itself with home-grown and home- 
made products, and whatever trade went on beyond the 
local exchange of village commodities was chiefly 
internal, and carried on along a few great routes. 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 253 

Only the most valuable and portable products, such as 
the finest woven articles, Avere brought down from the 
interior, and it was Bengal proper with its great river 
systems that alone was able to exchange its rice, 
opium, indigo, silks and muslins. Not only was the 
country as a whole self-sufficient, but each district of a 
few square miles, if not each village, provided all that 
was necessary for the support of its population. Petite 
culture and land industries had from time inmiemorial 
been the chief means of employment, and in many 
parts the revenues were still levied in kind. The sur- 
plus grain of a plenteous harvest was stored in pits or 
in jars against the time of dearth, while the weaver, 
the worker in metal or clay, and the carpenter depended 
for their livelihood on the agriculturists whom they 
supplied with the goods. At the centres of Government 
or sacred places of religion there were larger industries, 
but their existence had very little influence on the 
workaday lives of the great body of the peasantry. 
An enormous number of more or less self-contained 
village communities, surrounded by their cultivated 
acres and uncultivated jungle-land, sending off 
emigrants to form similar centres of agriculture and 
industry, village population pressed on subsistence 
Avas the ever-prevailing feature of the country. War, 
famine, and pestilence from time to time disturbed for 
a while the uniform round of existence, but these 
calamities made no permanent change in the customary 
conditions of existence. The development of railway 
communications has in many ways revolutionised the 
economic condition of the country, and has seriously 
affected social relations. India, as a whole, is no 
longer self-sufficing for the ordinary necessities of 
existence. Each village in good years raises sufficient 
food supplies, with the exception of salt ; but when 
cotton goods are in demand they are supplied from 
external sources, whether those sources of supply are 



2 54 GENEKAL 

in manufacturing centres in India, such as Bombay and 
Calcutta, or outside India, such as Manchester. Salt, 
which used to be obtained from Indian sources, either 
in the shape of salt mines or salt pans on the sea- 
shore, or saline soil to be found in many parts of the 
continent, is now entirely supplied, owing to salt excise 
regulations, fi'om Indian or foreign (chiefly English) 
salt mines. And in exchange for these goods the 
surf)lus agricultural produce, such as wheat, rice, seeds, 
cotton, and opium, is no longer consumed in the 
agricultural districts or adjacent market towns, but is 
sent away to quiet trade centres, whence it is trans- 
ported either for export to foreign countries or for 
consumption in Indian centres of manufacture. But 
while the internal and external trade in those and other 
immemorial products of India has been enormously 
developed, one new up-country product — tea — has been 
created by Western enterprise ; and without the help of 
railway transport this enterprise would not probably 
have reached its present proportions. 

This great development of commerce has neces- 
sitated and facilitated the introduction of a larger 
cash medium of exchange. Throughout the length 
and breadth of India the Government now levies its 
revenues in the shape not of kind, but cash ; land- 
owners do the same ; and rupees at some time or 
other of the year are a necessity for the Indian culti- 
vator. India from time inuucmorial has been a great 

o 

absorber of silver, but during the last fifty years this 
absorption has been necessarily accelerated by the 
extension of the cash nexus in business. Another 
symptom of the same change is to be seen in the larger 
quantity of jewellery worn by the better to do. This 
has come to be regarded as the easiest savings-bank. 
Owing to these two economic facts, the direct result of 
l'>ritish rule, the currency question has become one of 
vital importance for the Avhole population. 



THE RAILWAYS OF (IRKATER BRITAIN 255 

Accordintj^ to the latest official returns, the mileage 
of ludian railways now reaches 21,156 miles. Of these 
12,240 miles are standard gauge, 8631 metre, and 
318 special. Of these 10,622 miles arc State lines 
worked by companies, 5 1 6 1 State lines worked by the 
State, 2588 worked by guaranteed companies, 894 by 
assisted companies, 2018 by native States, and 73 
by foreign States, French and Portuguese. The number 
of persons employed by the railways were about 
283,000, of whom about 4600 Avere Europeans, 6700 
Eurasians, and 272,000 natives. The fuel for the 
engines is coal, coke, patent fuel, and wood, the re- 
spective quantities being 1,280,638, 4344, 1664, and 
321,052 tons of the coal. The Indian collieries turn 
out about 3,800,000 tons in the year, the chief ones 
being in Bengal ; Assam, the Central Provinces, 
Hyderabad, Burmah, and the Punjab only yielding 
about 800,000 tons out of the total output. There 
are about 60,000 colliers. 

In order to keep the railways working, stores to 
the amount of about ;^ 1,1 00,000 are purchased each 
year in England, and most of the capital for plant has 
been expended in this country, which has, therefore, 
reaped an enormous advantage from Indian railways. 

The capital outlay on the lines has reached about 
259,500,000 Rs., and to this has to be added about 
65,000,000 Rs. paid by the Indian Exchequer to meet 
interest charges not caused by the railways. No 
interest has been charged on this sum, but it has been 
paid annually by the Indian taxpayers. The financial 
result to the Indian taxpayer is to be seen in an annual 
loss of about 2,000,000 Rs. to 1,300,000 Rs. Some of 
the lines like the East Indian, which serves Bengal 
and the North- Western Provinces, and the Rajputana 
railway, which serve the North-Western Provinces and 
Rajputana, have paid well; but others like the Madras, 
the Midland, and the North-Western systems do not 



2 56 GENERAL 

pay their way. They have been built for mihtary and 
protection {i.e. famine) reasons, but they constitute a 
heavy burden on the Indian Exchequer. 



GENERAL AND SOUTH AFRICAN 

By the Hon. Sir DAA'ID TENNANT, K.C.M.G. 

[Agent-General for the Cape of Good Hope ; formerly Speaker of the Cape 

House of Assembly) 

The Romans knew the vahie as well as the need of 
good and substantial roads. They were skilled in the 
science of road-making for the purposes of conquest 
and for the maintenance of communication between 
distant portions of the empire. 

Proofs of their labours in this respect (as also in the 
building of the Roman walls) are still visible in some of 
the countries once held in subjection to the dominion 
of the Csesars. These slender traces of ancient roads, 
which have survived centuries of time and chansfe in 
Europe, Northern Africa, and Great Britain, are at the 
present day prized for their historic interest, and are 
cherished as mementoes of the vastness of Rome's 
sovereignty. 

The system of road-making, early inaugurated by 
Rome, was, on the decline and fall of the Roman 
Empire, pursued with vigour and vast improvement 
by the countries chiefly interested in the construction 
of roads. Their needs demanded, and their growing 
prosperity exacted, better and more speedy means of 
transport and inter-communication. 

The wonderful discovery of steam as a motive-power 
in the traction of carriages for purposes of inland traffic 
revolutionised the old-established method of transport, 
and the substitution of iron rails with its locomotive for 
the gravelled roads achieved an extraordinary degree of 
success. , 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 257 

We now recognise the fact that railways arc the 
great civilising agency of the age, and also the main 
arteries which feed and further the development and 
progress of a country. 

The construction of railways in Great Britain is 
undertaken by private enterprise, through the medium 
of Railway Companies, who obtain the sanction of Par- 
liament therefor, by means of private bills introduced 
for that purpose. In nearly all the colonies, more espe- 
cially in the important self-governing colonies of Greater 
Britain, each colonial o-overnment has committed to it 
the construction of railways, and in addition thereto the 
responsibility for their maintenance and working. 

A Department of Public Works, or one of railways 
exclusively, is represented by a responsible Colonial 
Minister, who controls a system which is at all times 
subject to Parliamentary supervision. Thus any new 
line of colonial railway intended to be constructed must 
receive Parliamentary sanction, and the proposal there- 
for can only be submitted through a responsible mini- 
ster. This process, however, does not exclude the right 
of individuals or companies to apply for Parliamentary 
powers in the building of railways, but in such cases 
conditions are imposed which give the Government the 
option of purchasing the lines on the terms prescribed 
in the Act. We need not debate the question as to 
which is the most desirable mode of securing Parlia- 
mentary sanction for railway construction, or the reason 
for a departure by the colonies from the procedure in 
vogue in the mother country ; sutHce it to say that the 
colonies regard their system of ministerial and Parlia- 
mentary control as best suited to colonial requirements. 

The colonies could not have undertaken the con- 
struction of their railways, nor can they now extend 
the same, without the pecuniary aid of the capitalists 
of Ensfland. The loans so raised for these colonial 
public works exhibit an indebtedness which binds the 
y R 



258 GENERAL 

colonies in a closer union to the mother country. In 
the same way the purchases made for railway material, 
as well as the employment of skilled labour from Eng- 
land on these railways, form an additional link in this 
union. 

It is, however, a subject of regret that of late, owing 
to the frequency of strikes in England, and the con- 
sequent difficulty of satisfying colonial demands for 
supplies of railway material, some of the colonies had 
been compelled to seek for such supplies from foreign 
countries. 

The progress of railways, in India and the colonies, 
has, since the middle of the present century, been very 
marked. In India the presidencies, as well as the im- 
portant portions of that empire, have been brought 
into closer communication. Canada has, in addition 
to the many lines in that extensive territory, connected 
the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans by a grand trunk line 
running across the Dominion. Australasia (including 
Tasmania and New Zealand) has brought the difterent 
colonies in that region into touch with each other. 

And South Africa has, in like manner, secured to its 
states and colonies a commercial and social intercourse, 
which, but for railways, would have been impossible of 
attainment. 

We will now dwell more particularly on the South 
African railways. 

Prior to the introduction of the iron road as a means 
of comnmnication and tran.sport the Cape Colony had 
its traffic, whether of produce, imported goods, or pas- 
sengers, carried over and along gravelled as well as sandy 
roads at considerable cost and delay. 

The necessity for easier and more rapid communica- 
tion was fully recognised by the Cape, when in 1859 
the first sod was turned for a railway of some fifty- 
eight miles in length. This first railway venture having 
proved a success, an extension of the line was in 1875 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 259 

determined on in a northerly direction, so as eventually 
to reach the higher altitudes of the colony up to and 
beyond its late boundary at the Orange River. 

The discovery of the Kimberley diamond fields re- 
sulted in a line to that region, and later on the Transvaal 
gold fields produced a Cape line through the Orange 
Free State to the Vaal River on the borders of the 
South African Republic ; from thence the latter state 
built and regulated its own line to the rich gold tracts 
of Johannesburg and also to Pretoria, with an outlet at 
Delagoa Bay. A detailed description of the routes to 
these termini, with the names of places unknown to the 
multitude, would be uninteresting, and the statistics of 
cost and other particulars in relation thereto would 
prove wearisome to most readers. It need only be 
added that the value of these lines is apparent in the 
shape of large returns, facility of transport, and social 
advantages of passenger trafiic. The Orange Free State 
was so assured of the benefits of railway communica- 
tion that it not only took over by purchase from the 
Cape Government the line which the latter had built 
through that state, but it has also added to these 
benefits by the building of short additional lines radiat- 
ing from its main or trunk line. The Cape Colony, 
however, did not rest contented with its northern line. 
It connected Port Elizabeth with Grahamstown, brought 
King William's Town and East London into touch Avitli 
the border districts between the Orange Free State line 
and the coal fields in the eastern province ; and opened 
up the country to the bewitching influence of a closer 
union, commercially and socially ; and an area, which 
before Avas considered ditiicult of access, or of being 
travelled through within anything like a reasonable 
time, and which had its distances calculated by days 
and weeks, had these latter now subjected by the rail- 
Avay to the magical limitations of hours. 

The modest length of 58 miles of railway com- 



26o GENERAL 

menced in 1859, had in 1893 increased to 2253 miles, 
and continued progress is still being made in the exten- 
sion of new lines, either in connection with existing 
ones, or as separate ones stretching towards new portions 
of the colony, for the purpose of opening up its trade 
and for the development of its great and hidden re- 
sources ; in fact, a network of railway lines intersects 
the colony at present. 

The impetus to trade and commerce is visible on 
all sides. The old sluggish team of twenty or more 
oxen toiling with a heavily-laden waggon up some steep 
ascent or ploughing the moving sand has made way 
for the brisk and safer railway train, whilst the loco- 
motive's whistle, heard along the plain or echoed in the 
mountain gorges, proclaims an era of progress and the 
advent of greater activity in all the relations of social 
and commercial life. The dawn of greater physical and 
mental activity noticeable in those remoter portions of 
the colony, which heretofore had been almost forcibly 
excluded from closer intercourse with the more active 
centres of trade, must be ascribed to the potency of 
railway communication ; whilst the improvement in the 
condition of the people, materially as well as socially, is 
to be attributed to the same cause. 

Let us now turn to Natal. That territory, once a 
portion of the Cape, became in 1856 a separate British 
colony, and within three years thereafter, that is to say, 
almost as soon as in the older colony, were railways 
there introduced, the pioneer line being that which 
connects the port of Durban with Pietermaritzburg. 
The subsequent extension of a line to the borders of 
Natal, Transvaal, and ihc. Orange Free State, and 
another running parallel witli \]\v. coast, as well as one 
to the coal fields, are evidences of the progress of this 
colony. That these lines are paying is evidenced by 
the fact that extensions thereof continue to be under- 
taken. 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 261 

The Orang^e Free State, next in order of progress in 
regard to railway extension, permitted, as before stated, 
under a convention entered into with the Cape Colony, 
a line from the Cape border to Bloemfontein and thence 
to the Vaal River, on the Transvaal border: and the 
success of this undertaking has proved so remunerative, 
that the purchase of the line from the Cape Colony and 
the subsequent extension by this state of its internal rail- 
way policy has secured for it advantages which it would 
never have possessed without this railway system. 

The Transvaal has not only joined the Orange Free 
State border line on the Vaal River, as well as the Natal 
line on the border of that colony, to the principal towns 
of the republic, but has also secured an outlet in the 
Indian Ocean by a terminus at Delagoa Bay, whilst a 
further expansion of its railway system has been con- 
tinued to the great advantage of trade. The Rhodesian 
line is the last and not tlie least important one to be 
included in this rehearsal of South African lines. From 
the border of the Cape Colon}^ to Buluwayo the line is 
completed and worked by and under a special agreement 
Avith the Cape Colony. Another lino from Beira on the 
east coast to Salisbury is nearing completion, and this 
will eventually be extended to Buluwayo ; whilst from 
the last-named place we look for a forther extension 
to the Zambesi, where the coal fields will, it is said, be 
powerful adjuncts in the support of a system so pregnant 
with great results. 

May we not confidently hope that Mr. Rhodes' aspira- 
tion for a route through Central Africa will eventually 
find its accomplishment in the all-desired Cape to Cairo 
line. The Pharaohs of Egypt left the Pyramids as 
monuments of enduring fame, but these will become 
secondary objects of interest when once science has 
accomplished its august task of piercing regions un- 
known to ancient Egypt, by traversing the Nile from its 
actual and not its old mythical source to Cairo, and by 



262 GENERAL 

bringing the north and south of this large continent 
into direct communication. The African Continental 
Telegraph, meanwhile marching with rapid strides, will 
soon accomplish this desirable object of through com- 
munication. The African Continent will no longer 
deserve the prefix of " Dark," when the electric current 
flashes news from north to south of it, along its entire 
length. Light will pierce its darkest part, unexplored 
regions, the quaint and barbarous names of which are 
now known only to the few, will become as familiar to 
us as those of the largest European states ; and African 
aborigines will, with wondering gaze, behold the results 
produced by the discoveries of science, and learn to 
appreciate the advantages of civilisation. 

Let me summarise the value of the South African 
railways. A large system embracing many thousands 
of miles, controlled by six states and colonies (including 
the Portuguese portion of Delagoa Bay), provides for the 
advancement and progress of South Africa as a wdiole 
by means of their different railways. We rejoice in the 
existence of the federation of the Dominion of Canada. 
We hope that Australasia is on the eve of declaring its 
faith in the establishment of a connnonwealth bound 
together for mutual protection and advancement, and, 
like Canada, maintaining its unswerving attachment and 
loyalty to the British Crown. May we not indulge the 
hope of a United South Africa under obligations and with 
intentions siinilar to those of Canada and Australasia? 
We found tliis hope on what has already been accom- 
plished. The British dependencies in South Africa and 
the Orange Free State have already agreed to a Customs 
Union. All the colonies and states there habitually send 
delegates to railway conferences, and a South African 
Postal Union has now existed for two years. 

The Cape, Natal, and Rhodesia can — if they have 
not already done so — form the nucleus of such a federa- 
tion. We feel assured no promptings of loyalty need be 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 263 

urged for this course, nor can any reason be suggested 
against a federation which, while it Avould ensure in- 
calculable benefits to those embraced within its fold, 
would, in unmistakable terms, prove to the world at 
large that the strength of Queen Victoria's Empire is 
due to the spontaneous determination of her people, in 
all their component parts, to unite for its consolidation, 
preservation, and defence. 



THE RAILAVAYS OF CANADA 
By SIDNEY G. B. CORYN 

On the confederation of the British North American 
provinces in 1867, it at once became apparent that the 
railways of Canada were altogether insufficient for the 
political needs of the country, or for its colonisation. 
The eastern provinces of Quebec and Ontario were 
already largely settled. The Grand Trunk Railway, 
with its Atlantic termini at Levis (Quebec) and at 
Portland, Maine, extended westward to Chicago, supply- 
ing the great centres of Montreal, Kingston, Toronto, 
and embracing Buffalo, Detroit, and Toledo in its net- 
work of lines. But with the north shore of Lake 
Superior, with Winnipeg, the Prairie Provinces, the 
Rocky Mountains and far distant British Columbia, 
there was no direct railway connection, and Avithout a 
transcontinental line the confederation of the provinces 
seemed to be de jure only. In the year of the con- 
federation the Canadian Government set to work to 
supply the deiiciency, and to connect by railway the 
east and the west, the Atlantic and the Pacific. 

But in 1 8 8 1 it became evident that the work of 
construction could better be carried on by the con- 
tinuity of private energy than by a government ex- 
posed to political vicissitudes, and whose undertakings 



264 CxENERAL 

were necessarily thrown into the arena of party strife. 
In this year, with the goodwill and aid of the Govern- 
ment, the Canadian Pacitic Railway Company came into 
existence, taking over those parts of the line already 
constructed, amounting to nearly 400 miles, other parts 
still under construction of over 600 miles in extent 
— which, however, were to be finished by the Govern- 
ment — and making themselves responsible for the 
completion of the entire line. Work of the most 
energetic description was immediately inaugurated. 
Across the prairie, west of Winnipeg, the rails were 
laid at a rate varying from three to six miles a day. 
In the mountains, obstacles which with reason had 
been pronounced insurmountable, gave way before the 
unremitting attacks of the engineers. On the 7 th 
November 1885, the construction parties from the east 
and from the west met at Craigellachie, in Eagle Pass, 
and the completed Canadian Pacific Railway had taken 
its place in the commerce, the politics, and the social 
life of the world. 

But construction did not stop with the fulfilment 
of the Government contract. Branch lines were pushed 
out in every direction. As an immediate result, coloni- 
sation proceeded apace. The industrious and the 
enterprising from all lands were attracted to the 
enormous stretch of prairie lands in the North- West 
of Canada. The territories immediately contiguous to 
the railway rose in value, and, as colonisation extended 
itself northwards, the branch lines folloAved, aiding those 
already there and encouraging others to follow. From 
Regina a line went noi-th, connecting with Prince 
Albert and Battleford. Another line north from 
Calgary opened up the wheat land as far as Edmonton. 
South of the main line a network of branch lines made 
available the extraordinary fertility of Southern Mani- 
toba, while tlic continual discoveries of gold in the 
mountains have called into existence the lines neces- 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 265 

sary for their working. At the time of writing, the 
actual mileage worked by the Canadian Pacific Railway 
and in course of construction is y6y6. 

But not content with its victories by land, the 
Company has laid its hand also upon the sea. Con- 
necting with the railway terminus at Vancouver, a 
fleet of high-class passenger steamers connects the new 
world with the old world of China and Japan and with 
Australasia. The developments of the future are largely 
obvious, but whatever they may be, they can but tend 
to make the railway system of Canada ever more and 
more the highway to the Orient. 

The Canadian Pacific Railway may be said to contain 
within itself examples of almost every kind of engineer- 
ing work, and to represent a successful conflict with 
almost every engineering difficulty. In the Selkirk 
and Rocky Mountains these difficulties reached their 
culmination, and are sufliciently evident even to the 
inexperienced eye. Elsewhere the difficulties were 
none the less real, although not so obvious. To the 
present day a constant struggle is maintained to 
counteract the shelving tendency of the subsoil on the 
north shore of Lake Superior. The long prairie stretch 
of line, 600 miles long, produces difficulties peculiar to 
itself, and in part dependent upon the more or less 
sudden changes of temperature. But when the line 
reaches the mountain district the most hardened 
traveller becomes awed at the splendour of the scenery 
and at the engineering patience and skill which have 
placed a railway line where a mountain goat could 
have barely found a passage. For hour after hour the 
train wends its way through this scenery, and every 
five minutes its nature changes. At one moment the 
train is passing along the face of a precipice with i 500 
feet of rock above and below. It is running on an 
artificial road bed, in parts so narrow that the traveller 
looking down from the car window sees only the 



266 GENERAL 

mountain torrent below. Then, again, we are running 
through miles of snow-sheds, wooden structures of 
enormous strensrth, and so desisfned as to resist the 
heaviest avalanche. Through ravmes and gorges into 
whose depths the sunlight barely penetrates, skirting 
the edges of precipices, plunging into the tunnelled 
mountam sides, winding in and out of valleys, turning 
back upon parallel track, the line threads its way 
through the mountain fastnesses, and every hour in- 
creases the wonder at a work so stupendous and so 
successful. Nor does Nature remain quiescent under 
her subjection. An army of watchers and workers is 
ever toiling to repair the road bed, the bridges, and 
the snow-sheds. Every five miles we meet the solitary 
patrol whose endless duty it is to note and to report 
every defect and every variation. And as a result of 
this ceaseless care, the history of the Canadian Pacific 
Railway has been unmarred by any preventible mis- 
hap, and the efficiency of the line stands unsurpassed 
among the railways of the world. 



THE EAILAVAY SYSTEMS OF AUSTRALIA 
By the Hon. D. W. CARNEGIE 

New South Wales. — In considering the railways of 
Australia it seems natural that one should beofin with 
that of New South Wales, the " Mother Colony of the 
Australias' — the first turf of which was turned on 3rd 
July 1850, by the daughter of the then governor, His 
Excellency Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, at Sydney. 

The railways of the colony have, so to speak, been 
put together piecemeal, as the growing wants of the 
colony increased, otherwise they would have followed 
ditlerent routes. 

They consist — all connecting with Sydney — of the 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 2G7 

Sydney and Suburban, the Southern Line and its 
branches to the Victorian border, 868 i miles; the 
Western Line to Bourke, on the River Darhng, and 
its branches, 879J miles; the South Coast Line, 94^ 
miles, connecting with Newcastle ; the Northern Line 
and its branches to the Queensland border, 4944 miles; 
Sydney to NeAvcastle, 93 miles; unconnected Northern 
Branch, 63I miles; that is, a total mileage, with other 
short lines, of 2639} miles, constructed at a capital 
outlay of ;^32,024,5 38. The rolling stock, with work- 
shops, &c., is valued at ^^"5. 2 3 3, 865, making a total 
cost of ;^ 1 4,463 per mile. 

These are Government railways, with the English 
gauge of 4 ft. 8i in. In addition to these there are 
private lines. One from Deniliquin to Moama, 45 
miles, feeding the Victorian system, on a gauge of 
5 ft. 3 in. ; another connecting Broken Hill with the 
South Australian railways, 35! miles long, with a 3 ft. 
gauge. Other extensions are in contemplation, but are 
all of the "light railway" character. The system is 
under the control of commissioners : Mr. E. M. G. Eddy, 
Chief Commissioner, Mr. Charles Oliver and Mr. W. 
Felion, to whose foresight and energy the facts arc 
due that the railways of New South Wales are the 
most efficiently maintained, the best managed, and the 
most profitable of all the State railways of Australasia. 
It is said that there arc in the United Kingdom no 
locomotives so powerful as the New South Wales 
consolidation engines. It is necessary to have such 
powerful engines, because on most lines the gradients 
are very steep, varying on 631 miles from i in 30 to 
I in 75. 

Rates for passengers and goods are much the same 
as in Encjland. First-class passenger tickets cost from 
|d. to |d. per mile ; a parcel of 112 lbs. is carried 
5 o miles for i s. 9d. ; a ton of hay goes for less than 
^d. per mile ; a ton of grain or flour for less than f d. 



2 68 GENERAL 

The Government works the railways less for profit to 
themselves than for the convenience of up-country 
producers and the public generally. M.P.'s and others 
are entitled to free passes over all lines. 

The accident statistics show that the average of 
killed and injured per million passengers is o.i killed 
and 3.6 injured, as against o. i killed and 1.6 injured 
in the United Kingdom. 

Victoria. — The central portion of this colony is 
well supplied with a choice network of railways, which 
branches out in long lines to the more sparsely popu- 
lated districts east and west. In 1887 there was a 
total length of 1880 miles open for traffic, the average 
cost being iJ^ 11,748 per mile; but up to 1896 the 
length opened amounted to 3122} miles, at a cost per 
mile of ;^ I 2,272, the whole of the capital cost being 
;^38,io8,i 5 I, which includes the value of the rolling 
stock. 

There are 263 passenger engines, 254 goods 
engines, 1075 passenger vehicles, 8546 goods and 
other vehicles, and 473 vans, while during the year 
1895-96 (the year on which these statements are 
calculated) 40,993,798 passengers were carried, and 
the freight amounted to 2,163,722 tons. The total 
receipts from both sources amounted to ;^2,40i,392, 
averaging £y6g per mile open. The total train miles 
run reached 8,989,391, giving gross receipts per train 
mile of a little over 5 s. 4(1. The net pro tit for the 
year amounted to ;i^854,9i7. 

The railways are all laid down on a uniform gauge 
of 5 tt. 3 in. They are the property of the State, and 
are managed like the lines of New South Wales by a 
special board of tlu'co commissioners. 

The average of killed and injured on the Victorian 
lines is o. I for the former, and 3.2 for the latter per 
million passengers. Sydney may be reached from 



THE RAILWAYS OF ( IK EATER RPJTATN 269 

Melbourne in iy\ liours, a distance of 576] miles, 
an average of 33.4 miles per hour. Many of the 
gradients on the way are exceedingly steep. At Exeter 
a height of 2348 feet and at Cullerin 2392 feet is 
reached. The cost of a journey from Melbourne to 
Sydney is a little over £4 first and ;^3 second class 
— the rofurn fares being a little over £6 first and £4 
second class. 

South Australia. — In South Australia the first 
railway opened was that between Adelaide and Port 
Adelaide in 1856. This was followed by the line 
between Adelaide and Kapunda in 1857. At first 
a gauge of 5 ft. 3 in. was adopted, but in 1867 a 
gauge of 3 ft. 6 in. was also adopted. The broad 
gauge runs from Adelaide 147$ miles north to 
Terowie, and south-east on the road to Melbourne, 
where at Serviceton, 196] miles from Adelaide, it 
crosses the boundary line. At Serviceton, passengers 
are notified that the time changes one hour, Victorian 
time being one hour in advance of South Australian 
time. A broad gauge line also runs south to Port 
Victor. With these exceptions, all the lines are of 
3 ft. 6 in. gauge. 

In all, there arc 1722I miles of railway open for 
traffic, 1229I being 3 ft. 6 in. gauge, and 493J 
of 5 ft. 3 in. The capital cost on this mileage, 
reckoned up to 1897, was ^12,599,892, an average 
of iJ^73 10 per mile. 

The munbor of passengers carried amounted to 
5,799,928, paying ^^297,026. The freight carried 
reached 1,146,293 tons. 

The average payment per mile for passengers comes 
out (1896-97) at ■68d. per mile, and the average pay- 
ment per ton of goods per mile i.o5d. 

The rolling stock consists of 153 engines, mostly of 
English type, with 98 tenders, i 86 passenger coaches. 



2 70 GENERAL 

and 30 intercolonial passenger coaches, while of goods 
and live-stock waggons there are 2278. 

The net revenue for 1896-97 Avas ^410,780. 

Convenient trains are run to various watering-places 
and points of interest, as the National Park, Belair, 
Gawler, termed the " Modern Athens," the Naracoorte 
Caves, and other points of interest. * 

Western Australia. — This province had on 30th June 
I 897, I 361 miles of railway open for traffic. Of these 
970 miles are Government lines, and 391 miles of 
private lines. 

The first consist of: — 

Miles. 

1. Eastern Railway . .... 453 

2. South- Western . . . . -165 

3. Great Southern . . . . -243 

4. Northern . . . . . . log 

The private lines are : — 

1. The Midland Railway of West Australia, con- 
structed under a concession on the land grant system, 
the company receiving i 2,000 acres for every mile of 
line constructed. Starting 10 miles out of Perth, it 
runs 277 miles to Walkaway, where it joins the Govern- 
ment lino to Geraldtown. 

2. The Denmark Railway, constructed by Messrs. 
Millar's Karri and Jarrah Forests, Limited, under a 
special concession, 60 miles in all. 

3. Yarloop Railway, constructed by the same com- 
pany, 16 miles in length. 

4. The Upper Darling Range Railway, the property 
of the Canning Jarrah Timber Company, 3 5 miles in 
length. On this line there is a passenger service twice 
a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 

5. The Jarrahdalc Railway has a total run of 52 
miles, and was constructed by the Jarrahdalc Company 
under a special timl)er concession agreement. 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 271 

6. The Qiiindalup, 14 miles in length, under a 
special timber concession to H. J. Yelverton. 

7. M. C. Davies Company, Limited, has constructed 
a 20-milc line, also under a timber concession. 

These lines, with the exception of the Upper Darhng 
line, are used for timber traffic from the forests to 
ports and the main lines. 

The Government railway returns show a gradual 
increase in passenger traffic, freightage, and receipts 
since then- first establishment, the percentage of work- 
ing expense to gross earnings being 49.79 in 1895-96, 
as against 114.46 in 1890, the net profit in 1895-96 
being ;^2 65,9i i. 

The rolling stock consists of 214 locomotives, 184 
passenger carriages, and 4265 brake-vans and waggons. 
Most of the lines are single and terminal, and are of 
a standard gauge of 3 ft. 6 in. 

Queensland. — In this colony as in the others the 
railways are Government property, and are administered 
by three commissioners ; the powers of the Chief Com- 
missioner (who makes a full report quarterly and one 
annually to the Minister at the head of the Railway 
Department of the Government) are very considerable, 
and in fact are limited only by his inability to make 
contracts outside the colony. The mileage open to 
traffic in 1896-97 was 2505!, and was comprised in 
eight separate systems — 



Soiitlieni 


Railways 


and branches 


• 1.3991 


miles 


Central 


do. 


do. 


• 559 




]\Iackay 


do. 


and branch 


31 




Bo wen 


do. 


• 


■ 48 




Northern 


do. 


. 


260 




Cairns 


do. 


. 


47 




Cooktowii 


do. 


. 


• 67 




Normanton do. 


• • . 


94 





272 GENERAL 

The gauge adopted is that of 3 ft, 6 in., which in 
Queensland at least, it has been shown, enabled a 
greater mileage of line to be constructed at a less cost, 
and the fares also compare favourabl}' Avith those of 
the other colonies, Avhile the freightage rates are, with 
slight exceptions, more in favour of Queensland than 
even the passenger rates. 

The net revenue, 1896—97, notwithstanding cheap 
rates, amounted to £4gS,i2y. 

In conclusion, it may be interesting to make some 
comparison between the systems in the various colonies. 
The proposal to federate has been the means of intro- 
ducing the question of establishing a uniform gauge 
for the whole of the railways. At present the gauges 
and the average cost per mile are as under — 



Queensland 


Gauge, 3 ft. 6 in. av. 


cost per 


mile, 


^7028 


New South Wales 


. „ 4 ft. 81 in. 


)) 




14,160 


Victoria 


. „ 5 ft- 3 in. 


5J 




12,271 


South Australia 


( 3 ft. 6 in. \ 
■ '■ 1 5 ft- 3i"- / 


>' 




7302 


West Australia 


. „ 3 ft. 6 in. 


»• 




3847 


Tasmania 


. „ 3 ft. 6 in. 


5) 




8985 


New Zealand 


. „ 3 ft. 6 in. 


!> 




7719 



It will thus be seen that the question of uniform 
gauge presents considerable difficulty, and if alterations 
were made the younger colonies would probably have 
to adopt that of the older and more populous ones. 
Though uniformity of gauge would doubtless give great 
advantages, it must be remembered that in new 
countries length, not width, gives the greatest benefit. 

There are many points I should like to discuss, but 
1 have already overrun the limits assigned. There is, 
however, one thing I should like to say in conclusion. 
In connection with State railways no provision is made 
lur writing off" capital lost in failures. The capital 
charge constantly accunudates, and interest upon it is 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 273 

looked for. If a line built by a private company fails, 
the shareholders bear the loss once and for all ; and if 
the company is reconstructed on purchase at a 
nominal price (comparatively) of the assets, interest 
only has to be paid on the reduced capital. 

The average dividends paid by United Kingdom 
railways is 4 per cent. There can be no doubt this 
would be reduced considerably if net profits were 
hampered with the total cost of construction to date. 

Of the Australian railways, that of West Australia 
alone made a net profit over all of 4 per cent. The 
others made an average loss of 29.5 per cent. This is 
brought about by the necessity of paying interest on 
the cost of construction. 

Tasmania. — The lines of railway in working in the 
State of Tasmania are the Launceston and Western 
Railway, from Launceston to Formby ; the Main line, 
from Hobart to Launceston, and branches from Laun- 
ceston ; the Sorell line, from Bellerive to Sorell ; and 
on the east coast, Strahan to Zeehan ; Ringville to 
North-East Dundas. The total expenditure on the 
Government line which had been opened for traflfic to 
1900 was ^8189 per mile. The gross revenue earned 
in 1899 was ii" 1 9 3, 1 58, and the working expenses 
.^152,798. The gross revenue for 1899 was more 
than that of 1898 by ^14,978. The profit for the 
year's work was ;^40,36o, an increase of ^^3359 over 
1898. 

New Zealand. — The New Zealand railway system, 
which connects all the capitals of the provincial districts, 
affords examples of both State-owned and private 
lines. 

Of the former, there Avas open for traffic in March 
1900, 2104 miles, the cost of construction being 
;^i6,703,887, an average per mile of £7gi9. The 
V s 



274 



GENERAL 



former sum, however, includes over half a million 
spent on the construction of lines not yet open for 
traffic on that date. 

The cash revenue for the year 1899 to 1900 was 
£^1,623,891, and the expenditure for the same period 
^1,052,358, leaving a net revenue of ^571,583, equal 
to a rate of £^, 8s. 5d. per cent, on the capital cost — 
percentage of expenditure to revenue, 64.80. The 
earnings of some lines, however, ranged as high as 
£iT,, 3s. 6d. per cent. 

The following table shows at a glance the increase 
in the nine years 1889 to 1898 : — 



Year. 


Length of ., . 
Line open m-ff 
for Traffic. ^^'^^^^^- 


^Passengers 
Carried. 


Season 
Tickets 
Issued. 


Goods and 

Live Stock 

Carried. 


1889-90 . 
1898-99 . 


Miles, j Miles. 
1,813 ' 2,868,203 

2.090 3,968,708 


S, 376,459 
4.955.553 


12,311 
55.027 


Tons. 
2,112,734 

2.744.4^1 



The private lines of New Zealand consisted, in 
March 1899, ^^ '^7 miles, viz.: — 



1. The Wellington-Manawatu Railway 

2. The Kaitangata Railway 

3. The Midland Railway . 



Miles. 
84 
4 
79 



Of the first of these, the Wellington-Manawatu 
Railway, the cost of construction was ^^767, 665, a rate 
oi £gi^g per mile; the revenue for the year ending 
February 1899, i^86, 119; and the working expenses, 
-^393 10 — a percentage of 45.64 to the revenue. 

The Midland Railway of New Zealand cost to con- 
struct, ^760,000 ; its revenue for the year ending 
March 1899 was ;i^20,204 ; the expenses, ^20,000 — 
giving a percentage of 99.99 to the revenue. This 
railway has lately been taken over by the Government. 



THE RAILWAYS OF GREATER BRITAIN 275 

Comparative Table of the Australasian Railways, 
FOR THE Year knding June 1899. 





Mileage. 


Cost. 


Gross 
Earnings. 


Working 
Expenses. 


Passengers. Gauge. 

1 






£. 


I 




Ft. In. 


New Soutli \ 
Wules ( 


2,706 


37,992,276 


3.145.273 


1,690,442 


24,726,067 


4 8i 


Queensliind . 


2,745 


18,670,208 


1.373.475 


784.811 


3,716,425 


3 6 


Soutli Alls- ( 
tralia . ) 


1,724 


12,886,352 


1.058.379 


617,380 


6,171,081 


]5 3 
I3 6 


Tusinania 


438 


3.585.039 


178,180 


141,179 


617,643 


3 6 


Victoria 


3.143 


39,056,451 


2,873.729 


1,716,441 


45,805,043 


i 5 3 

12 6 


West Aus- ) 
tralia . ) 


1.355 


6,427,370 


1,004,620 


712,329 


5,872,200 


3 6 


New Zealand 


2,090 


15.993.903 


1,469,665 


929.737 


4,955,553 


3 6 

1 



PRODUCTION OF GOLD IN GREATER 

BRITAIN 

ITS INFLUENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT 
OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

By J. W. BROOMHEAD 

The history of the British Empire would be incom- 
plete without any account of the important part played 
by gold mining and its developments. The progress 
of Great Britain may be said to be founded on its coal 
and iron ; of Greater Britain on its gold. In the early 
history of the human race, war and the quest of food 
scattered the people over the earth ; but in later 
times the quest of gold has considerably promoted and 
greatly aided in the occupation of vast areas of the 
globe, by an industrious and enterprising population, 
mainly of British origin. Over these new regions, 
covering one-fifth of the globe, the British language, 
British freedom, law and justice, as well as the 
inherited colonising energy of the Briton, prevail. 

Australasia and British North America had not 
been previously exploited by ancient miners, as is the 
case with India and Rhodesia. In the former virmn 
countries the golden sands, or alluvial gold formed by 
Nature's mills — the slow but sure action of climatic 
influences — were already prepared for the hand of 
man to reap the yellow harvest ; and the pick and 
shovel, tin dish and cradle were all the equipment 
necessary to wm the golden grain. Nature had al- 
ready sunk the shafts, driven the levels, stoped and 

276 



GOLD IN GREATER BRITAIN 277 

raised the ore, as well as oxidised, crushed, and con- 
centrated it for man, so that it might be found in the 
most easily recoverable form. Consequently in the 
early days of virgin countries men frequently made 
fortunes with little labour ; and news of rich finds, 
including the occasional discovery of a big nugget, 
reaching the Mother Country, multitudes had their 
imasfination fired with dreams of untold wealth, and 
made all haste for the new El Dorado. In time these 
easily treated rich-surface deposits became exhausted ; 
but they had served to bring in a large working popu- 
lation, who with the money so easily gained, in many 
cases remained, either to exploit the reef formations — 
the original sources of the alluvial deposits — or, find- 
ing land cheap and good, and trade more prosperous 
than in the old country, to turn their attention to 
other sources of wealth. Some British possessions 
were, however, so inaccessible and had to contend with 
such great difficulties in regard to transport, that even 
the stimulus of rich alluvial finds was insufficient to 
overcome the initial difficulties connected with the 
development of their quartz mines. This was the 
case in British Columbia, where in the early sixties 
large quantities of alluvial gold were produced, but 
natur;\l conditions were at that time so adverse that 
even rich quartz mines could not be worked at a 
profit. Now that this section of country has been 
opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railway with its 
branches, and smelters have been erected at con- 
venient centres, British Columbia is rapidly coming 
into prominence as a quartz-mining country of great 
promise. When it is considered that one of our most 
richly mineralised colonies, even with the aid of large 
alluvial deposits, was for thirty years delayed by 
natural conditions from working quartz mines known 
to be rich, from grass roots, there is no cause for 
surprise in the lack of progress displayed by such 



2/8 GENERAL 

countries as Rhodesia, The latter, besides having to 
contend with adverse natural conditions, has at some 
previous epoch not only been deprived of its alluvials, 
but also of its oxidised surface ore down to water 
level. After the alluvials are exhausted, the oxidised 
surface ores, Avhich are generally free milling, can be 
inexpensively treated ; but to do this it is necessary to 
erect crushing mills and heavy equipment. In British 
Columbia the difficulty in getting plant into the heart 
of the Rocky Mountains was formerly insurmountable, 
while in the Australian colonies, where transport diffi- 
culties were not great, quartz-mining followed closely 
upon alluvial, and a considerable amount of the money 
won from the latter was devoted to the equipment of 
the quartz mines. In time, however, deep shafts have 
to be sunk, the ore becomes refractory, heavy bodies 
of water need to be pumped, so that the ground re- 
quires either to be rich or worked upon a large scale 
to yield payable results. 

The richest mining area yet found is situated in 
the centre of the Kalgoorlie district of Western 
Australia, but its discovery is of so recent a date that 
it may be said to be merely in its infancy. The most 
prolific area is the Witwatersrandt district of the 
Transvaal, whose development is due to Britisl^ enter- 
prise, and some of the mines situated in British 
possessions are amongst the most productive in the 
world. Amongst these may be mentioned the Broken 
Hill Proprietary Mine, which, from 1885 to end of May 
1897, yielded 87,526,567 ounces of silver, 326,060 
tons of lead, besides a considerable amount of gold and 
copper, the total value being iJ^i 7,1 33,1 84 sterling. 
The Mount Morgan in Queensland has since 1887 
returned gold to the value of ;^6, 500,000 sterling, 
while the Mysore Mine in India has in nine years 
yielded gold to the value of £^2,600,000 sterling. 
The Waihi Mine in the North Island of New Zealand 



GOLD IN GREATER BRITAIN 279 

may also be mentioned amongst the greatest gold 
mines of the world. Although it has only yet 
attained to a comparatively small equipment, develop- 
ments are of such a nature as to leave no doubt 
regarding its future. It is, however, to the Transvaal 
that we must turn for the greatest results of all. The 
whole area forming the Main Reef series of the Wit- 
watersrandt is actually one mine, which is cut up into 
a great number of companies, each holding a number 
of claims. This goldfield in the month of October 
1898 produced over 400,000 ounces of gold, or equal 
to an annual output exceeding ;i6^ 17,000,000 sterling. 
In 1887 its output was £81,000, and the aggre- 
gate output during the past decade approximates 
^^64, 000,000. This places it at the head of the list 
of gold-producing countries. It is estimated that 
-^3,250,000 will be disbursed in dividends by the 
mining companies in this district during 1898. In 
1897 there Avere over 8000 whites and 5000 natives 
employed, and over 5,000,000 tons of ore were crushed. 
In August 1898 the number of natives employed 
had increased to 81,203. 

Reference to the history of the various Colonies 
forming the British Empire will demonstrate to what a 
large extent these countries have been indebted to gold- 
mining for their earlier developments, and in many 
cases the industry still retains an important position. 

During the first half-century preceding the dis- 
covery of gold in Australia extremely slow progress 
was made, the total increase in population during that 
period not exceeding 85,000, New Zealand and Tas- 
mania included, while the total revenue of the Colony 
of Victoria was only ;^3 04,000, but the discovery of 
gold in 1 8 5 1 had a magical effect. From 1852 to 
1 86 1 over two million ounces of gold were annually 
produced by this single colony, and in 1856 Victoria 
produced over three million ounces of gold. This 



2 8o GENERAL 

great accession of wealth revolutionised the colony, 
and in the early days immigrants poured into it by 
thousands weekly from the Mother Country and neigh- 
bourinof colonies. 

Similarly in the history of New Zealand progress 
was very slow until the large finds of gold in 1861 
created a rush. Although gold was discovered in New 
Zealand nine years earlier, it was not till 1 861 that the 
discoveries assumed important dimensions. The pro- 
duce of the Otago goldfield alone in 1861—62 amounted 
to 1,020,000 ounces of gold, having a value of over 
;^4 ,000,000 sterling, and the total value of gold ex- 
ported from New Zealand between 1857 and 1897 
exceeded ;i^5 3,000,000 sterling, the bulk of this gold 
being obtained from alluvials and surface workings. 
As these are now to all appearance worked out, future 
developments will have to depend upon deep exploita- 
tion of quartz lodes and upon river dredging. 

The history of West Australia as a gold- producing 
country may be said practically to date from the dis- 
covery in 1893 of the rich ground subsequently known 
as Bayley's Reward Claim, and situated in the]Coolgardie 
district. Now, however, interest in the gold-mining 
industry of the colony is centred mainly in the Kal- 
goorlie district owing to the great width and the rich- 
ness of its lodes, which carry sulphide and telluride 
ores. Recent discoveries of alluvial have also been 
made, and the geological formation of the country 
indicates that a heavy denudation has taken place ; 
hence prospecting may be expected to result in the 
discovery of alluvial deposits of much larger dimensions 
than any so far encountered. 

It has been for years my opinion that large alluvial 
deposits would be found either in situ as the result of 
recent erosions, or farther afield from the lode forma- 
tions, as the result of earlier denudations. Discovery 
of these deposits may be difficult on account of the 



GOLD IN GREATER BRITAIN 



281 



superimposed detritus and the oMiteration of the 
ancient river systems. 

The total gold production of the various Australasian 
Colonies, from the first discovery in 1 8 5 i to the end of 
1897, is shown in the following table: — 





Quantity. 


Value. 


Victoria .... 
New Zealand . . 
Queensland . . . 
New South Wales 
Western Australia 
Tasmania . . . 
South Australia . 

Australasia . 


Oz. 

61,847,448 

13,565,552 

12,006,918 

11,982,851 

1,642,620 

940,659 

498,884 


L 

247,389,792 

53,372,634 

41,749,606 

44,488,361 

6,241,957 

3,541,625 

1,817,433 


102,484,932 


^398,601,408 



The valtie of the mineral production of British 
Columbia increased from .$2,608,608 in 1890 to 
$10,456,268 in 1897, and developments in progress 
indicate a much greater expansion in the future. 

What has already taken place in other colonies will 
take place in Rhodesia. This territory has laboured 
imder disadvantages of distance from the seaboard, 
rebellion, raid and rinderpest, as well as having its 
alluvials and more easily worked surface ores extracted 
by the ancients ; but, with the railway completed to 
Bnluwayo, Rhodesia will figure as a gold producer in 
time. Upon no other portion of the earth's surface do 
such extensive old workings exist ; but modern mining 
will have to commence whore the ancients were com- 
pelled by water to leave off. It cannot be doubted 
that an enormous quantity of gold must have been 
extracted from these workings by the ancient miners, 
whoever they were, otherwise they would not have 
done so much work with such rudimentary appliances 
as are fotmd in or about the old shafts over this larj^e 

O 



282 GENERAL 

area. Evidence is now fortlicoming tliat gold deposits 
of a payable nature exist in depths, and the search for 
gold will play an important part in the opening up of 
Rhodesia, as it has done in the case of other British 
colonies. 

I understand a new goldfield of considerable pro- 
mise has recently been located in Ashanti, on the 
coast of West Africa in British territory. It is situated 
on the Adansi Mountains, midway between Kumasi 
and the coast. Mr. E. A. Cade, with a fully-equipped 
expedition, arrived on the fields on the ist of January 
1898, and to the end of June, with a five-stamp 
battery, 380 lbs. each, crushed 262 tons for 617 
ounces of gold, leaving 1 1 dwts. per ton in the tailings. 
The formation consists of banket or conglomerate and 
quartz lodes, one of which so far averages an ounce 
per ton over the width of 25 feet. In the smaller 
reefs richer stone is found. Of this district Mr, Cade 
saj'^s : " You can hardly by chance take up and Avash a 
pan of soil without also getting a show of gold." It 
is situated on the Hinterland of the Gold Coast, and 
has extensive ancient workings, from which there is 
little doubt the gold came which gave the name to 
this part of the coast. 

In 1883 the world's total production of gold fell to 
;^i 9,000,000, chiefly through the decline in the yield 
from alluvial. 

In 1886 the Witwatersrandt field was discovered, 
and has since been shown to contain an innnense 
quantity of low-grade ore. The best mining engineers, 
mine managers, assayers, chemists and metallurgists 
the world produces have been there employed to dis- 
cover the most economical method of treating this 
low-grade ore with results beneficial, not to this field 
only, but to gold-mining in general. The use of 
cyanide of potassium as a gold solvent was quickly 
followed by the discovery of the bromo-cyanidc pro- 



GOLD IN GREATER BRITAIN 283 

cess, and the evohitidn of many mechanical improve- 
ments and labour-saving appliances. These advances 
in the science of gold- getting have not only enabled 
refractory ores to be profitably treated, but have also 
enabled a much higher percentage of the gold contents 
of all classes of ore to be saved at a lower cost. The 
result has been a large increase in the world's gold 
production, which now approximates iJ^ 5 6,000,000 
sterling per annum, or something less than is. for 
each inhabitant of the globe. Of the total production 
the British Empire, including the Transvaal, Avhich is 
under British suzerainty, at present produces more 
than one-half, and its gold-mining industry Avill in 
the future be an even more important branch of the 
national industry than it has been in the past. All 
our colonies are laying themselves out to give every 
encouragement to this class of mining, and several 
have taken extensive space in the mining section of 
the Greater Britain Exhibition to be held at Earl's 
Court in 1899. Developments progressing in the 
Transvaal, Western Australia, the deep leads of Vic- 
toria, Queensland, New Zealand, Ontario, Klondyke, 
British Columbia, and Rhodesia all point to a large 
increase in gold production in the near future. 

In 1897 ^^^ United States of America produced 
gold to the amount of ;^i 2,208,600 ; the Transvaal 
came second with ^i 1,694,873 ; Australia third with 
;^io,785,266 ; and Russia fourth with ^^4,440, 926; 
while the gold production of the world was in that 
year ;^49, 199,209. The increase in the yield of the 
United States over 1896 was only ^^1,344,000, whereas 
the Transvaal's increase for that period was more than 
;i^ 3, 000,000. In the present year it will be greater 
than in 1897 by ;^4,ooo,ooo. It may therefore safely 
be predicted that for some considerable number of 
years at least the British Empire will continue to yield 
more gold than all the rest of the world. 



2 84 GENERAL 

Seeing that gold mining will have to deal with 
deeper workings in the future than it has done in the 
past, it will be instructive to note the depths at which 
successful mining is being prosecuted in various parts 
of the world. In the Bendigo district of Victoria, 
eighteen mines have found payable gold at a depth 
of over 1800 feet, while the Shenandoah Mine is 
working at a depth of 2756 feet, and Lansell at over 
3000 feet in depth in the same district, and both are 
in payable gold. In Charters Towers, in Queensland, 
payable gold is being obtained at over a depth of 
2000 feet, while the deepest mine in New South Wales 
has only attained a depth of about 1 1 00 feet. The 
deepest mines in the world are the Przibram, a silver 
mine in Austria, which has reached a depth of 3900 
feet ; the Sainte Henriette, a coal mine in Belgium, 
has also reached a depth of 3900 feet, while the 
Calumet and Hecla copper mine, on Lake Superior, 
is working at a depth of 4550 feet. As the chief 
obstacle to very deep working will arise from increase 
in temperature, it may be noted that B. H. Brough in 
1896 found the mean increase to be 1° Fahr. for every 
65 feet in depth, from observations made in forty-seven 
different mines and deep wells throughout the world. A 
good many of these observations were made where arti- 
ficial ventilation did not exist, and it may be assumed 
that the increase will be less where such exists. 

In the Witwatersrandt district of the Transvaal, the 
leading mining engineers consider it practicable to 
exploit the banket beds to a depth of 6000 feet. At 
present very few mines are working at a great depth, 
but there are a large number approaching a depth of 
1000 feet. With the aid of artificial ventilation and 
improved appliances for controlling heavy bodies of 
water much greater depth will be attained, and deep- 
level mining will present no insuperable difficulties to 
the progress of this important industry. 



BRITAIN'S SHARE IN POLAR 
DISCOVERY 

By MILLER CHRISTY, F.L.S. 

Part I. — The Search for North-East and North- 
west Passages 

For close upon three centuries, the people of England 
took a very keen and active, if somewhat intermittent, 
interest in solving the problem of the existence of 
a navigable sea-passage from the European to the 
Chinese seas. 

The great object of the search was to discover 
better trade routes to the vast wealth and treasure 
of China, India, and Japan, which had been first re- 
vealed to Western nations by the overland travels of 
Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, at the end of the 
thirteenth century. Expedition after expedition was 
sent out, undeterred by the fact that one after another 
was forced to give up the search as fruitless. Never, in 
short, was any quest of the kind so long maintained, 
so often abandoned as altogether hopeless, or so fre- 
quently revived with sanguine expectations of success. 

Prince Henry of Portugal, known as " The Navi- 
gator," sought, in the fifteenth century, what may be 
called a " South-Eastern Passage." He sent out ex- 
peditions to test the possibility of rounding the 
southern end of Africa, and so to open up a trade 
route with the Indies and China. By the year 1487, 
the " Cape Route " was an accomplished fact ; but it 
proved to be very long and very costly. 

Columbus, never dreaming of the existence of such 

28s 



2 86 GENERAL 

a continent as America, next conceived the idea of 
searching for a shorter route round the world, directly 
Avestward, across the Atlantic ; and this was his object 
when he set out on his epoch-making voyage which 
resulted in the discovery of America. As he himself 
expressed it, his aim was " to reach the East by sailing 
West." Columbus, on sighting land, believed himself 
nearing the eastern coast of Asia. He had failed in 
his avowed object, the discovery of a western sea-route 
to China, but had achieved the discovery of America — 
certainly the greatest event in the world's history. 

But this vast continent, the tremendous extent of 
which was realised but slowly, blocked the way to the 
riches of Eastern Asia. It was found to stretch in 
unbroken line almost from Pole to Pole. Ferdinand 
Magellan was the first to get round the southern 
extremity in 1520; but this " South- West Passage" 
(as it may be called) proved even longer than the older 
''' South-East Passage " round the Cape. Obviously, a 
passage westward round the northern end of the 
new continent— a " North- West Passage," if such there 
were — would be shorter and present greater advan- 
tages. 

Up to this time, the search had been maintained 
mainly by the Portuguese and Spaniards ; but, in the 
endeavour to find a northern passage, England came 
to the front, and the search for passages, both by the 
North-East and the North-West, was undertaken and 
carried on mainly by Englishmen. 

In I 5 5 3, an expedition under Sir Hugh Willougbby 
and Sir Kichard Chiincellor sailed from English shores. 
The route by which they hoped to reach the East was 
between Greenland and the northern coast of Asia ; 
but the ice of the Polar seas proved impenetrable, and 
Willoiigliby Iiimself perished in the attempt. 

The North-Eastern Route having thus proved disas- 
trous, attention was directed to the North- Western; and. 



POLAR DISCOVERY 287 

in 1576, there commenced that long series of expedi- 
tions — about seventy-five in all — which were sent out 
between the years 1576 and 1859. 

This first systematic English attempt to discover a 
" North- West Passage " Avas made in the year above 
named under Sir Martin Frobisher. He discovered 
the inlet on the north-east coast of North America, 
which still bears his name. In two succeeding years, 
he revisited the same region for the purpose of bring- 
insf home certain ore Avhich he believed to be rich in 
gold, but which proved to be of no value. 

After an interval of about seven years. Captain 
John Davis spent three successive summers exploring 
what we know as Davis Strait, but his confidence that 
the Strait would prove to be the hoped-for passage 
was ill-placed. On his return to England in 1587, the 
threatened invasion of England by the Spanish Armada 
prevented, for a time, any further thought of Arctic 
exploration. 

In the early part of the seventeenth century the 
search was renewed, and, during the first thirty years, 
no less than eleven voyages were made. The most 
important of these voyages was that made in 1 6 1 o by 
Henry Hudson, which resulted in the discovery of that 
vast inland sea since called Hudson's Bay. The voyage 
had a terribly tragic end, for Hudson's crew mutinied, 
set their captain and his son, with six others, adrift in 
a boat, and themselves returned to England. Of the 
occupants of that small boat, nothing more was ever 
heard. 

The mutineers, on their return to England, caused 
great excitement by relating the circumstance of their 
600-miles sail in a westward direction in open water. 
They and all the geographers of the time believed 
fully that the much-desired passage to the Pacific, and 
thence to the East, was actually discovered. Nothing 
seemed necessary but to fit out another expedition to 



2 88 GENERAL 

sail triumphantly through it. This new expedition 
was equipped by a great trading company, specially 
chartered, under Royal patronage, and Sir Thomas 
Button was appointed commander. Button sailed, in 
1 6 1 3 , right across the Bay until stopped by its western 
shores, but long search revealed no opening in the 
coast by Avhich he might continue to sail westward. 
After wintering in great distress, he turned homewards. 
His arrival in England caused bitter disappointment, 
for his seventeen-months absence had given rise to 
the belief that he had actually reached the Pacific. 

Notwithstanding Button's failure, the North-West 
Passage Company fitted out other expeditions. One of 
these resulted, in i6i6, in the discovery, by Bylot and 
Baffin, of Baffin's Bay. The only other attempts at 
this period were two made in 1631 — one by a York- 
shire seaman, Luke Fox (to whom Charles I. granted 
the use of a vessel too old and rotten for the naval 
service) : the other by Captain Thomas James, of 
Bristol, for whom the merchants of that city furnished 
a ship. They both made further search in Hudson's 
Bay, but without success. Their return, in 1632, 
largely convinced the nation that further search was 
useless, and the troublous times which followed drew 
off public attention to other matters. 

A third series of expeditions was commenced in 
the year 17 19; and, between that year and 1747, no 
less than five further attempts were made to discover 
a North-West Passage by way of the western shores 
of Hudson's Bay. Three of the five were organised by 
the Hudson's Bay Company. All were quite unsuccess- 
ful : and one ended most disastrously, for the vessels 
were wrecked and every soul perished. In 1741, the 
Admiralty despatched Captain Christopher Middlcton, 
who, on his return empty-handed, was accused by his 
chief promoter (an Irishman named Dobbs) of conceal- 
ing, for his own ends, the discovery of a passage. After 



POLAR DISCOVERY 289 

much controversy, Dobbs roused the pubHc to sub- 
scribe i^ 1 0,000 for another expedition, and was also 
instrumental in persuading the Government to ofier 
a reward of i^20,ooo for the discovery of a passage 
through Hudson's Bay to the Pacific ; and so, in 1746, 
a last attempt was made by this route — an attempt 
equally fruitless with those that had gone before it. 

Next, a certain element of novelty was introducefl 
into the method of attacking the problem which had 
bafHed so many. Although the new project was short- 
lived, nuich hope was placed in it at the time. Hitherto, 
all explorers had endeavoured to sail from east to west 
through the Polar Seas : Why not try next from west 
to east — from the Pacilio to the Atlantic ? In pursuit 
of this new plan was engaged one of the most illus- 
trious of England's navigators, Captain Cook. During 
the summer of 1778, Cook explored and mapped the 
far north-western coast of America, forcing his way as 
far north as possible. At what he called Icy Cape, 
he could penetrate no farther, and so made for the 
Hawaiian Islands, intending to winter there ; but, in an 
encounter with the natives of the Islands, he lost his 
life, adding yet another tragedy to the long roll of 
disaster connected with Arctic Discovery. 

In the early part of last century, after the long 
and costly war with France, England once more ad- 
dressed herself to Arctic problems, very largely through 
the influence of Sir John Barrow, Secretary to the 
Admiralty. Parliament again offered, under new con- 
ditions, a reward of i^2 0,000 for the discovery of a 
North-West Passage, as well as a smaller reward of 
i^Sooo to any one who should reach a certain point, 
to the north of America, about half-way between the 
Atlantic and the Pacific. 

In the spring of 1 8 1 8, two Arctic expeditions, 
lavishly equipped by the British Government, set forth 
for the Polar Seas. One was commanded by Captain 

V T 



290 GENERAL 

(afterwards Sir) John Ross, under whom served Lieu- 
tenant Parry. It re-explored the great Bay, discovered 
by Baffin in 1616, which had remained unvisited for 
two hundred years. By a series of unfortunate bhm- 
ders, Ross mistook Smith's Sound and Lancaster Sound 
(through the latter of which nearly all later searchers 
endeavoured to find a passage) for mere inlets of the 
sea, filled with ice, and therefore not worth further 
exploration. Upon Ross's return, some of his officers 
declared themselves unsatisfied with his conclusions. 
The Government then sent out Parry to further ex- 
amine Lancaster Sound. As he sailed farther and 
farther westward through this broad open channel, 
naming capes, bays, straits, and islands on either side, 
the more sanguine members of his party began to cal- 
culate the distance to Cook's Icy Cape, near the north- 
western extremity of America, knowing that, when 
they reached that point, they would be entitled to 
claim the reward for the discovery of a North- West 
Passage. When, five hundred miles from the en- 
trance to Lancaster Sound, the ships reached the point 
which entitled their crews to the ^^5000 reward, they 
felt that the remaining £ i 5 ,000 was well within their 
reach. But, only a day or tAvo later, the ships were 
stopped by the ice and soon became firmly fixed. The 
dreary winter ensued, and the following summer saw 
them back in England with their task still unachieved. 
Twice did Parry return to the attack, losing, on one 
occasion, his vessel, the Fiiri/, on what has since been 
known as Fury Beach, where all her stores were 
landed ; but finally he had to abandon the quest. 

It was now clear that a North- West Passage, even 
if found, could have little conunercial value. The 
Government reward of iJ^20,ooo was, therefore, with- 
drawn, and national expeditions temporarily ceased, 
liut Captain Ross was eager to retrieve his tarnished 
n^putation. In 1828, having obtained the assistance of 



POLAR DISCOVERY 291 

Mr. Felix Booth, ho started on another Arctic voyage, 
sailiuof in a small steamer — the first over used in Polar 
exploration. For three years the vessel remained 
firmly fixed in the ice on the coast of Boothia Land, 
and the crew nmst have starved had they not, by means 
of a long march across the ice, fallen back on the stores 
left by Parry at Fury Beach. Ultimately, a whaling 
vessel rescued and brought them home, nearly four 
years and a half after their departure. The most im- 
portant result attained was the determination ol" the 
actual position of the North Magnetic Pole. Captain 
Ross was rewarded by a knighthood and his crew 
received a monetary grant. 

For several years, activity in Polar research was 
confined to an expedition, in 1839, to ^^^^ Antarctic 
Region. On the return of this expedition, Sir John 
Barrow ajrain urgfcd the Government to renew its 
endeavour, pointing out that nothing was needed but 
to overhaul the ships just returned. This was done 
at comparatively small cost. Sir John Franklin was 
chosen commander, and the Erehus and the Terror, 
with three years' provisions on board, sailed on May 
19, 1845. This was the last expedition ever sent out 
solely in search of a North- West Passage. 

Franklin was instructed to pass through Lancaster 
Sound and make the best of his way southward and 
westward towards Bering Strait. In Melville Bay the 
ships made fast to the ice, which barred their progress, 
and there, on July 26, they were seen by the captain of a 
Hull whaler. Then they disappeared into the desolate 
Polar wastes. 

Three years passed and, as no news had been received, 
anxiety as to the fate of the explorers became intense. 
For twelve long years, the search for a North-West 
Passage was fortjotten and a search for Franklin took 
its place. 

In 1848, three relief expeditions were sent out by 



292 GENERAL 

different routes; but, at the close of 1849, the fate of 
FrankHn and his party was still unknown. Govern- 
ment and private rewards were offered to the amount 
of ;^23,ooo. In 1850, no less than fifteen vessels 
were actively engaged, while land expeditions were also 
out. It was not until 1852 that Dr. John Rae, return- 
ing from his land expedition, brought the first conclusive 
evidence of the tragic fate of Franklin's crews. On 
this, Government efforts ceased ; but the search 
was maintained by private enterprise, till, in 1859, the 
steam yacht Fox, sent out by Lady Franklin and under 
the command of Captain (now Admiral Sir Leopold) 
M'Clintock, gathered together all the melancholy 
tidinofs that Avill ever be gleaned of the fate of Sir 
John Franklin and his men. 

After wintering at Beechy Island, Franklin had 
turned south-westward down Peel Strait, where, in the 
autumn of 1846, his ships had been frozen in on the 
shores of King William Land, never again to be released. 
During the summer of 1847, by means of sledges, the 
party had pushed on westward, and sighted a point on 
the northern coast-line of the American Continent, 
which Franklin himself, travelling from the eastward, 
had reached some years previously. Thus, at last, the 
discovery of a North- West Passage was finally achieved, 
after a search of just 271 years. The ln*ave old Sir 
John died almost directly after, proud to have seen, if 
not to have travelled through, the long-sought Passage. 
His men retreated southward, but every one of the 
I 34 souls perished on the way. Only a few relics, some 
l)oncs, and a single written paper, found hidden in a 
cairn, remain to tell the tale. 

Although Franklin's expedition discovered a Nortli- 
Wcst Passage, it still remained for some one to pass 
through it. This was actually accomplished, in the years 
1850 54, by Captain M'Clure, albeit the reverse Avay, 
from the Pacific to the Atlantic; but ho had to aban- 



POLAR DISCOVERY 293 

don his ship and take to sledges, and Avas rescued by 
another vessel, which brought hini to England. 

To this' day, no vessel of any kind has actually 
passed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or vice versa, 
round the North of America. 

And now we have to recognise that the necessity 
which originally gave rise to the search no longer 
exists. The old Cape Route to India and China was 
shortened enormously, in 1869, by the opening of the 
Suez Canal ; whilst the Canadian-Pacific and other 
North American trans-continental railways now enable 
us to travel from London to Japan in twenty days. 

It may be asked whether all the enterprise and 
outlay has been justified by the results. Directly, 
perhaps, no : indirectly, undoubtedly, yes. The Arctic 
whale and seal fisheries, for 250 years a great and 
flourishing British industry, and the Hudson's Bay 
Company's trade, carried on for 230 years and still 
existing, are both obvious results. 

Over and above these material advantages nuist 
be recognised the scientific gains to the world, which 
could not otherwise have been secured. Then, too, 
there was that fostering of the spirit of national enter- 
prise which brought gallant men to the front, and 
developed in them the persistency and pluck which 
has made us, as a people, what we are, and has placed 
our little northern isle foremost among the nations of 
the Avorld. 

Part II. — Attempts to Reach the North and 

South Poles 

The old search for a passage to the Orient by 
the North-East or North-West was almost wholly com- 
mercial in its origin and aim. The much-more- 
modern attempts to reach the Earth's Poles have a 
wholly scientific object, and their successful accom- 



2 94 GENERAL 

plishment would exercise little or no influence upon 
trade. The two quests have, in fact, no direct connec- 
tion, except that each is a form of Polar Exploration. 

At the outset, it should be noted that the two 
Poles of our Earth differ, in one respect, very widely. 

One Polo (the Northern) lies, so far as has yet been 
ascertained, near the centre of a large ocean (of 
Avhich an area about half the size of Europe still re- 
mains unexplored), surrounded by three of the world's 
greatest continents. 

The other Pole (the Southern) lies, so far as we know, 
in the midst of a huge unexplored land-mass, some 
four millions of square miles in area — a sixth con- 
tinent, in fact — whose shores are Avashed by the three 
largest oceans of our globe.^ 

These vast uncharted Polar areas — the Southern 
especially — form the only really- extensive portions of 
the Earth's surface which man has not been able, as 
yet, to explore. Each presents innumerable problems 
— meteorological, geological, geographical, biological, 
and ma<j^netic — of the highest interest to scientific 
men, who are anxiously awaiting their solution. The 
solution of these problems and the natural ambition of 
man to become familiar with all parts of the world 
he inhabits (especially those which have baffled all 
attempts hitherto made to reach them), afford the only 
tangible objects of Polar Exploration; for the actual 
reaching of cither of the exact mathematical points 
which form the Earth's axes or " Poles " is, in itself, 
of no practical importance whatever, though, to the 
popular mind, always the main object. 

The attempt to reach the North Pole originated 
in 1772, wlien the Hon. Dainos Barrington — Gilbert 
White's friend and correspondent — collected and pub- 

' ThiTe is, it i.s true, no conclusive evidence of the existence of this 
reputed Antarctic Contine?it, sometimes cdled "Antarctica" : but there 
are good reasons for thinkinf^ it exists. In any case, it is certain that 
huge land-masses exist within the Antarctic Circle. 



rOLAR DISCOVERY 295 

lished the narratives of whalers and others who had 
previously approached the Pole. In the following 
year, an expedition fitted out at the national expense, 
and commanded by Captain Phipps, set sail from 
England in order to reach the Pole. It was the 
tirst ever sent out solely with that object. Though 
well conducted, it achieved little of importance, and 
is now of interest chiefly from the fact that Nelson 
served on it as a midshipman. 

In 1776, Parliament offered a reward of ^^5000 
to any one Avho should approach within one degree 
of the Pole — a reward which has never yet been 
claimed. No one, in fact, approached the Pole nearer 
than Phipps until 1 806, when Captain Scoresby, a 
well-known whaling captain, sailing to the north of 
Spitzbergen, reached 81° 30' — the highest latitude 
until then attained. 

In 1818, interest in the matter revived, and a 
national expedition under Captain Buchan was des- 
patched. It was stopped by the ice between Green- 
land and Spitzbergen, sustaining severe injuries to 
the two ships engaged. It accomplished nothing ; 
but it gave Franklin, who served as a lieutenant, his 
first experience of Arctic exploration. 

The failure of these well-thought-out expeditions 
showed that it was impossible to reach the Pole by 
sailing through the ice; and, in 1827, Parry essayed 
a novel plan. Sailing to the north of Spitzbergen, he 
there left his ship and started towards the Pole in 
boats fitted with runners, so that they might be used 
either as sledges for passing over the ice or as boats 
for navigating open water. He proceeded until he 
attained a point more than a degree north of any 
before reached, when he found that the ice was drift- 
ing southward more rapidly than he was travelling- 
northwards over it, so that he was actually losing 
ground. He, therefore, turned back. 



296 GENERAL 

After this, the enterprise was neglected for many 
years, and nothing further was done in this country, 
till after the lono- search for Franklin had ended. 

In 1875, however, another great national expedi- 
tion was despatched in H.M. ships Alert and Discovery, 
under Captain (now Admiral Sir George) Nares and 
Captain (now Admiral A. H.) Markham. The expedition 
was intended to proceed by way of the narrow strait 
known as Smith's Sound, to the North of Baffin's Bay. 
Smith's Sound had been explored by the American 
Expeditions under Hall and Kane, one of which had 
wintered at a higher latitude than had ever before 
been reached by any ship. On May 1 2th, in the 
following 3^ear, Markham, when in charge of a sledg- 
ing party, advanced over the ice to a point just 
within 400 miles of the Pole itself, thus breaking, 
by about forty miles, the record established by Parry 
fifty years earlier. 

During the last quarter of a century " Britain's 
Share in Polar Discovery " has been a very small share 
indeed compared with that taken by the people and 
Governments of other nations — especially the Ameri- 
cans, Norwegians, and Swedes. So far as the attempt 
to reach the NorUi Polo is concerned, that share is, 
indeed, almost confined to Mr. Harmsworth's expedi- 
tion under Mr. F. G. Jackson, which carried on a good 
deal of useful local exploratory work in Franz Josef 
Land, from 1894 to 1896, but did little towards 
reaching the Pole, though intended originally for that 
purpose. 

Three of the more important attempts made re- 
cently by foreigners may be alluded to briefly, although, 
strictly speaking, they do not fall mider the title chosen 
for these remarks. 

First comes that of Hcrr S. A. Andn'', a well- 
known Swedish scientist, who, in 1897, started from 
Spitsbergen in a balloon fitted with a special steering 



POLAR DISCOVERY 297 

apparatus of his own invention. Nothing is known of 
his fate, and it is now impossible to doubt that he 
has perished. 

In all respects the most important attempt ever 
made to reach the North Pole or to explore thorcjughly 
any considerable portion of the region surrounding it, 
was that made in the years 1893-96 by Dr. Fridtjof 
Nansen, a Norwegian of Danish descent. 

Recognising that the old methods of procedure had 
failed, Nansen thought out a now plan. He inferred 
from the fact that drift-timber and other objects from 
the Siberian coast are thrown up continually on the 
East side of Greenland, that there exists a current 
which flows across the Polar Ocean in the direction 
indicated ; and it seemed clear to him that, if a 
ship could be built strongly enough to withstand 
the pressure of the Polar ice, this ship might drift 
easily, in time, with the ice, across the Polar 
Ocean — perhaps, even, across the very Pole itself. 
Accordingly, he built the Fram (that is, Forward), 
probably the strongest vessel ever until then con- 
structed. She was fashioned also, below the water- 
line, of such shape that ice-pressure, instead of 
crushing her, should merely force her upwards until 
she lay upon the surface. 

The Fram, provisioned for live years, and manned 
by a picked Norwegian crew of twelve hands, sailed 
from Christiania in June 1893, crossed the Kara Sea, 
crept along the northern coasts of Europe and Asia, 
and reached, that autumn, the New Siberian Islands, 
where she was forced into the Arctic ice-pack. Slowly 
she commenced to drift north-westward, as Nansen 
had anticipated. This continued all the following year 
(1894), until, shortly after Christmas, Lat. 83° 23' 
(the highest previous record) was passed. On March 
14th 1895, deeming the Fram to have passed the 
most northerly point she was likely to reach, Nansen 



298 GENERAL 

left her, with Lieutenant Johansen as his sole com- 
panion, in order to attempt a nearer approach towards 
the Pole by means of dog-sledge and canoe. Three 
weeks later, on April 7th, the two reached Lat. 86° 14', 
a point about 226 geographical miles from the Pole 
— as far, that is, as Newcastle is from London. Here 
the extreme roughness of the ice compelled return. 
After an exceedingly perilous journey over the ice, 
Nansen and his companion at last reached Franz 
Josef Land, where they passed the winter of 1895-6, 
in a hut they built of earth, stones, and moss, and 
roofed with walrus hides. They lived, meanwhile, 
on bear's meat. In the spring (that of 1896), they 
started southwards for Spitzbergen, but soon came 
upon Mr. Jackson's camp at Cape Flora, whence they 
proceeded to Norway in Mr. Harmsworth's relieving- 
vessel Windward, arriving on the 13 th of August. A 
week later, the Fram (from which Nansen and Johansen 
had been separated seventeen months) also arrived, 
and Nansen's remarkable expedition, extending over 
more than three years, came to an end. 

Nansen achieved practically all that he attempted. 
He approached nearly two hundred miles nearer to 
the Pole than any one before him ; and, in so doing, he 
explored a vast region which had previously been so 
utterly unknown that no one could say whether it 
was sea or land. He showed that there was probably 
II') land on this side of the Pole, and that the Polar 
Ocean was of a depth previously unsuspected. All 
this he did without serious injury to his ship or the 
loss of a single one of his companions. Never were 
good management and good luck so happily combined. 

Tlio latest attempt to reach the Pole was organised 
by an Italian — the Duke of the Abruzzi, cousin of the 
[)rcsont King of Italy. The Duke purchased a well- 
known Norwegian whaling-vessel, and re-named her 
the Stella Polare (Polar Star). In her, he left Christi- 



POLAR DISCOVERY 299 

ania in June 1899, with a mixed crew of Italians 
and Norwegians, and victualled for several years. 
No precautit)n which forethought could suggest was 
neglected. The Duke's plan was to proceed in his 
ship to Franz Josef Land and thence to send out 
a series of sledge expeditions northward — those going 
out first being intended to carry forward and cache 
supplies for those going later. He took out a large 
number of dogs for use on these expeditions. Franz 
Josef Land was reached without serious difficulty, and 
the ship attained Lat. 82° 5' — a higher latitude than 
a ship had ever reached before by sailing, though the 
Fram had, of course, drifted farther north. Early in 
September, although efforts had been made to berth 
the ship, she sustained from the ice injuries so severe 
as to render her uninhabitable, and the members of the 
expedition were obliged to winter in huts they built 
on shore. In the middle of March, a sledijincf 
party started northwards. It was found, however, to 
bo too large ; and, at different times, two detachments 
(one of which was lost) were sent back. The re- 
mainder, consisting of four Italians led by Captain 
Cagni, persisted. Ultimately, in spite of enormous 
difficulties, they reached Lat. 86° 33' — a few miles 
farther north than the point reached by Nansen. 
The return presented still greater difficulties and 
dangers ; but, in the end, the explorers reached their 
base in safety, after a highly remarkable sledging 
journey of some 750 miles. Meanwhile, the ship 
had been repaired sufficiently for the return voyage, 
which was commenced as soon as possible. Norway 
was reached in the autumn of 1 900. Thus the expe- 
dition was able to accomplish one season's work only, 
instead of several, as had been intended; but the results 
achieved were remarkable so far as they went. 

What has been accomplished so far leaves little 
doubt that, within a comparatively short time, not 



300 GENERAL 

only will the North Pole itself be reached, but the 
unknown region around it will be, by some means, 
more or less thoroughly explored. 

The plan of procedure devised by Nansen seems to 
be, on the whole, the surest and best. It offers, 
apparently, the greatest possible safety and comfort 
to those engaged, and gives, therefore, better facilities 
than any other plan for carrying on the main work 
of any such expedition — namely, accurate and thorough 
scientific investigation of the region traversed. The 
chief objections to the adoption of this plan are the 
great length of time it must, necessarily, occupy — 
probably four or five years — and the consequent 
heavy expense. 

The Fram (or a vessel built on similar lines) 
should be sent round to the Pacific, and the real 
starting-point of the expedition should be Vancouver 
in British Columbia. She should proceed thence to 
Bering's Strait and be forced into the Polar ice at a 
point much farther north-west than that at which 
Nansen entered it. If this were done, there 
seems a probabilit}^ that the vessel might drift 
with the ice either across the Pole or on the 
farther (that is, the American) side of it, where 
by far the larger part of the still unexplored area 
lies, and where unknown land may exist. It is 
now practically certain that no unknown land exists 
on this (that is, the European and Asiatic) side of 
the Pole. 

Not impossibly, the desired result may be 
attained much more quicl^ly — in a single season, 
in fact — by some such attempt as that made 
during the past summer in the wonderful Russian 
ice -breaking steamer Erinack. This extraordinary 
vessel — undoubtedly the strongest afloat — has 
more than answered the expectations of her de- 
signer ill the way of keeping open the ice- 



POLAR DISCOVERY 301 

blocked Baltic ports. During an experimental trip 
undertaken by her among the Arctic ice in the 
vicinity of Spitzbergen, she dealt easily with the 
heaviest ice that was opposed to her ; but her 
voyage itself was a failure. Even supposing, how- 
ever, that the Pole will be reached some day in 
such a ship, the voyage (however sensational it 
may be) will hardly present those opportunities for 
making the necessary laborious scientific observa- 
tions on the region crossed which a more leisurely 
voyage would afford. 

National pride leads us to hope that the exploration 
of the still unknown North Polar area may be accom- 
plished by oiu" own countrymen ; but it is to be feared 
that, if England continues to show the apathy she has 
shown lately in this matter, the honour for which 
she was the first to strive will fall to some other 
nation. 

Turning now to the attempts made to reach the 
South Pole, we find that extremely little is known of 
the region surrounding it. Its desolate nature, rigor- 
ous climate, vast size, and extreme remoteness fi'om 
the chief centres of civilisation, have led to its receiv- 
ing, hitherto, very little attention from explorers. Of 
late, however, the growing importance of the scientific 
problems connected with it has attracted attention to 
it ; and, for some years to come, the question of South 
Polar Exploration is likely to remain prominently 
before the public. 

Ii^ ^77 Z^ the Antarctic Circle was first crossed by 
Cook during the second of his tAvo famous voyages of 
exploration. But Cook never got within 1 1 00 miles 
of the Pole, and the appearance of desolation he saw 
all around him led him afterwards to express the 
belief that, if any land lay farther south, it would not 
be worth exploring. Nevertheless, his voyage (which 
extended over three years) was one of the most 



302 GENERAL 

important ever made, and has formed the basis of all 
later Antarctic voyages of discovery. 

After Cook's time, little was done for a lung- 
period. Many things (particularly the disturbed state 
of Europe, owing to the Napoleonic wars) tended to 
check further discovery. The more accessible of the 
islands lying around the Antarctic Circle were, how- 
ever, visited with some regularity by English and 
American seal-hunters, who made occasionally small 
additions to geographical knowledge in South Georgia, 
the South Shetlands, and what is now called the Dirk 
Gerritz Archipelago. 

In 1820 and 1821, some valuable exploration was 
carried on within the Antarctic Circle by the Russian 
National Expedition under Bellingshausen, but no 
high latitudes were attained. 

In February 1823. James Weddell, an experienced 
English whaling captain, with two small ships, not 
specially equipped for exploring, attained with ease the 
remarkably high latitude of 74° 15' S. (or three 
degrees farther than Cook's highest point), to the south 
of the South Sandwich Group, and in the sea now 
known as Weddell's Sea. He encountered no ice in 
the highest latitudes attained, but sickness in his 
crew compelled him to turn back before sighting 
any land. 

After this, for some years, little progress of 
importance was made, though various captains of 
sealers, chiefly English, sighted land at various points 
in the vicinity of the Antarctic Circle. Kemp, for 
instance, in 1833, discovered the land now called after 
him ; and, in 1839, l^alluny discovered wdiat are now 
called the Balleny Islands. 

The close of the fourth decade of the past century 
was marked by extraordinary activity in Antarctic 
Exploration. For this, the growing importance of the 
study I if Terrestrial Magnetism and the need for 



rOLAR DISCOVERY 303 

making observations in hit^h southern latitudes were 
mainly responsible. Tlii'ee nations — France, America, 
and England — sent out expeditions, all about the 
sa.me time, to assist in the work. 

The French expedition, consisting of two vessels, 
under Dumont d'Urville, left France in 1837. It was 
not intended specially for South Polar Exploration, and 
was not particularly well fitted therefor. Early in 
1838, however, D'Urville attempted to follow up and 
improve upon Weddell's discoveries, but without 
achieving any important result. Later, early in 1840, 
he returned to the Antarctic Region — prompted, 
probably, by the knowledge that it was to be visited 
by other expeditions, which he hoped to forestall. On 
this occasion he explored (and, in part, discovered) a 
portion of the coast of what is now called Wilkes 
Land. His name of Adi'lie Land still stands for the 
portion he examined. D'Urville had not, however, 
pushed his discoveries very far before sickness among 
his crews compelled him to return to France. 

Meanwhile, an American Expedition, consisting of 
no fewer than five vessels, under Charles Wilkes, had 
started in 1838. It, too, was not intended specially 
for Antarctic Exploration, having been fitted out 
mainly to make certain scientific investigations 
elsewhere, especially in the Pacific. Neverthe- 
less, Wilkes made an important voyage, extending 
knowledge of the South Polar area in several direc- 
tions, and exploring especially the coast-line of the 
land now called after him. 

This brings us to the British National Expedition 
of 1839-43, under Captain (afterwards Sir) James 
Clark Ross, a nephew of Sir John Ross of Arctic 
fame. This remains the only great and adequately- 
equipped expedition which has ever yet made a 
thorough and extended scientific examination of the 
Antarctic Region, and is one of the most famous and 



304 GENERAL 

successful voyages of exploration ever undertaken by 
any nation. To notice its achievements in detail 
here is impossible. To it the Avorld is indebted for a 
srreat share of its knowledoe of the region visited : 
while, from the scientific point of view, it is still a 
classic voyage. 

Ross spent three southern summers in the work 
of exploration, but was compelled to retreat north- 
wards, to Australia or the Falkland Islands, to pass 
the winters, being unable to discover any suitable 
winter harbour in high southern latitudes. During 
each of these summers, he made important geogra- 
phical discoveries and innumerable observations of 
great interest in every branch of science ; but the 
most important discoveries were those made during 
the first season (that of 1840-41), when he discovered 
the land now known as Victoria Land ; explored its 
coast-line for some hundreds of miles ; passed, as he 
calculated, within 160 miles of the Southern Magnetic 
Pole ; discovered two lofty volcanic mountains, which 
he named (after his two ships) Mount Erebus and 
Mount Terror — the former, at the time, belching forth 
flames and smoke at a height of over i 2,000 feet ; and 
ultimately attained Lat. 78" 10' — a record which was 
not surpassed for nearly sixty years. Everywhere he 
saw desolation — huge icefields and icebertys on the 
sea, vast snowfields and glaciers on the land. No- 
where was he able to effect a landin<i^ on the coast of 
the mainland, though twice he obtained a footing on 
rocky islets near the shore. 

Ross returned to England in September 1843, 
after an absence of four years, all but a few days, 
having completed his voyage without serious injury 
to his ships and with tlie loss «f only one man, who 
fell overboard. Among explorers of the South Polar 
area, he stands lo tliis day pre-(3iiiinent. His great 
voyage throws completely into the shade all that Avas 



POLAR DISCOVERY 305 

done in the way of South Polar Exploration 'froiii his 
time up to the last few years. 

Within the period indicated (the half-century from 
1843 to 1893), no expedition of any kind was de- 
spatched to the Antarctic Region solely to continue 
exploration, and the little that was accomplished was, 
almost wholly, the casual work of those who went 
thither to hunt seals or whales. Even of these men. 
more were of foreign than of British nationality ; 
whilst the results achieved by them have been, though 
useful enough, so extremely small as not to need 
special notice here. 

It is true that the famous voyage of the Chal- 
lenger (commenced in 1872) falls within the period 
under notice ; but the ChaUengiT was neither equipped 
nor intended for exploration in the narrower sense, 
and she made no new geographical discoveries, though 
she spent a few days within the Antarctic Circle. She 
made, however, an immense number of extremely 
valuable scientific observations in what may be called 
the Sub- Antarctic Region ; and the fact that such a 
voyage was made, with purely scientific objects, reflects 
high credit on the British Government of the period. 

The smallness of the chano-e made in the Soutli 
Polar chart during the half-century in question well 
shows the extremely small amount of exploration 
accomplished. 

Within the last seven or eight years, however, we 
have entered upon what seems likely to prove a new 
era in Antarctic Exploration, for the demands of 
science have now become too pressing to be ignored. 
Within the fcAv years indicated, two expeditions, both 
essentially scientific in their aims, have been sent out 
and have returned, whilst two other expeditions of the 
highest importance are noAv out. These must be 
noticed briefly. 

In 1894, Mr. C. E. Borchgrcvinck, a young Aus- 
V u 



3o6 GENERAL 

tralian naturalist, of Norwegian birth, full of enthusiasm 
for Antarctic research, shipped as one of the crew of a 
steam whaler about to sail for the South. The results 
were interesting, if not highly important ; for Borch- 
grevinck formed one of a party which, in January i 895, 
effected a landing on Cape Adare, Victoria Land, where 
he collected geological specimens and a species of 
lichen. Never before had any human being set foot 
on any portion of the mainland of the reputed Antarctic 
Continent. 

The next attempt to explore the Antarctic Region 
was not British. It was organised through the per- 
sistent efforts of M. Adrien de Gerlache, a Belgian ; 
but, though a private venture, it was patronised by the 
Belgian Government. M. de Gerlache, though ham- 
pered by very inadequate means, purchased in Norway 
an old steam whaler, which he refitted and re-named 
La Belyica. In her he sailed in the autumn of 1897. 
After spending some time in exploring work, the vessel 
was caught in the pack off Alexander Land, and was 
there obliged to pass the winter of 1898, during which 
one member of the expedition fell overboard and was 
lost, whilst another died. To the survivors belongs the 
honour of being the first human beings to pass a 
winter within the Antarctic Circle, but the expedition 
reached no farther south than Lat. 7 i °. Great diffi- 
culty was experienced in extricating the vessel from 
the pack, but tliis was accomplished at last, and she 
returned to Europe in November 1899. The expedi- 
tion succeeded in making many meteorological and 
other scientific f)bsorvalions. but the amount of geo- 
graphical discovery achieved was small. 

^Meanwhile, an English expedition had sailed. Mr. 
l^orchgrevinck, ever since his return to England from 
liis visit to Cape Adare in 1895, had sought with 
energy to obtain the means of renewing exploration 
in the same vicinity. After many disappointments, he 



POLAR DISCOVERY 307 

was at last enabled, through the munificence of Sir 
George Newnes, to leave England, in August 1898, in 
the converted whaler Suuthcrn Cross, specially equipped 
for a voyage of exploration and scientific observation. 
On the 14th of the following February (1 899), after 
meeting with many difficulties, the vessel approached 
Cape Adare and there landed Mr. Borchgrevinck, nine 
companions, and some seventy Siberian dogs, Avith the 
stores and equipment necessary for a wintering. Then 
the ship sailed away north, not to return until the 
following southern summer. A camp (named Camp 
Ridley) was formed at a small distance back from the 
beach ; a hut was built ; and the stores Avere brought 
up after great labour, owing to the steepness of the 
beach and the frightful gales. Here the winter of 
1899 was passed amidst all the monotony inseparable 
from the long dark Polar winter. Such meteorological 
observations as were possible were regularly made, but 
the darkness and the extreme prevalence of terrific 
wind-storms often rendered out-of-door work all but 
impossible. Early in the spring, Mr. Borchgrevinck 
attempted to explore the vicinity of his camp by means 
of sledge-trips with dogs, but the cold, the high winds, 
the many glaciers, the absence of terrestrial life, and 
the unevenness of the country prevented progress. In 
October, one of the party (Hanson, the zoologist) died. 
At the end of January (1900), the Southern Cross 
returned and, taking on board the party which had 
wintered, proceeded southward, along the coast of 
Victoria Land, in order to explore. Mr. Borchgrevinck 
landed several times and examined the coast line. 
Landintr, on one occasion, near the foot of Mount 
Terror, he nearly lost his life through being over- 
whelmed by a " tidal" wave caused by a neighbouring 
g-lacier dischars^imr an iceberg into the sea. In this 
vicinity, discovering a gap in the Great Ice Barrier, 
Mr. Borchgrevinck landed and, travelling inland on 



3o8 GENERAL 

snow shoes, with one companion, succeeded in reaching 
Lat. 78° 50', — that is, forty minutes farther south than 
Ross in 1842, and, therefore, a record in the advance 
towards the Pole, Mr, Borchgrevinck reached New 
Zealand, on his return to civilisation, in March 1900, 

Not only did Mr. Borchgrevinck attain a point 
slightly farther south than any one before him, but 
his party was the first to pass a winter on land within 
the Antarctic Circle. Moreover, he and his companions 
made an extensive and valuable series of observations 
in many branches of science. He accomplished, there- 
fore (in spite of many difficulties and somewhat meagre 
resources), a voyage of considerable importance in itself 
and of great interest as showing what an immense 
amount of valuable work might be achieved by a 
larger and more-adequately-equipped National Expedi- 
tion which should continue its investigations for several 
years. 

It is gratifying to know that, at last, such an 
expedition — in fact, two such expeditions — are actually 
upon their way, though the backwardness of our 
own country in the matter is far from gratifying to 
Englishmen. 

For years past, scientific men of all shades of 
opinion and in all civilised countries have persistently 
urged the pressing need for further Antarctic explora- 
tion on an adequate scale. It has been felt strongly 
throughout the world that England, with her wealth, her 
reputation for enterprise, her great naval traditions, and 
her extensive possessions in the Southern Hemisphere 
— vaster, by far, in that region, than the possessions 
of any other nation — ought, for every reason, to take 
the lead. Yet we hesitated so long that it was left for 
Germany, not England, to take the first practical steps. 

Prompted by the strenuous advocacy of Dr. Georg 
Neumayer, the eminent head of the German Naval 
Observatory at Hamburg, and one of the most per- 



POLAR DISCOVP^RY 309 

sistont scientific advocates of further South Polar 
Research, two learned bodies in Berlin (the Geo- 
graphical Society and the German Colonial Society) 
made the first move. Their efforts were promptly 
seconded by the German Government, which readily 
granted a sum of ;^6o,ooo towards the expenses of 
the expedition and lent officers of the German Navy 
to command it. The status of the enterprise is, 
therefore, truly national. A suitable vessel was 
built at Bremerhaven, and sailed during the past 
summer, under the command, so far as scientific 
matters are concerned, of Dr. Eric von Drygalski. 
The expedition will probably advance southward along 
the meridian of Kerguelen Land, and devote special 
attention to that part of the South Polar Region thus 
reached. 

We turn now to what has been done in England. 
In October 1897, the Royal Geographical Society 
approached Lord Salisbury to urge that the time had 
come for the British Government to despatch a National 
Exploring Expedition, not only to act on its own 
account, but also to co-operate with the intended 
German Expedition. The proposition was refused 
point-blank by the Government, though backed by all 
the leading British scientific societies Avith a unanimity 
seldom or never, before attained. 

The Royal Geographical Society then decided to 
endeavour to raise the needful funds by public sub- 
scription, and itself voted ;^5ooo for that purpose. 
Funds came in slowly, however, till, in March 1899, 
a magnificent donation of i^2 5,000 from Mr. L. W. 
Longstaff" was announced. Later, the Society again 
approached the Government — this time with greater 
success ; for, in July, the Government at last agreed 
to grant a sum of ^^45,000, on condition that at least 
an equal sum was forthcoming from other sources. 
This condition has since been complied with. There 



3IO GENERAL 

was, therefore, at last, an assurance that an adequate 
expedition would be despatched. One feels regret, 
however, that it will be, of necessity, on a somewhat 
inadequate scale ; for (as in the case of the German 
expedition) a single vessel only will be employed (at 
first, at any rate), instead of the two of which such 
expeditions should always consist ; but this short- 
coming may be neutralised to some extent by the close 
co-operation which will take place between the English 
and the German expeditions. 

A suitable vessel, called the Discovery — a name 
famous in the annals of English Exploration — was 
built and fitted at Dundee. She is the first vessel 
ever built in this country solely for the purposes of 
Polar Exploration. She sailed in August last under 
the command of Commander Robert Scott, R.N., a 
young officer of proved ability. By the time this is 
in the hands of readers she will be, if all goes well, 
among the Antarctic ice. The expedition will be 
absent from two to three years, and is intended to 
explore chiefly that portion of the Antarctic Region 
which lies in the vicinity of Victoria Land and Wilkes 
Land. The result can hardly fail to be of immense 
scientific interest. 

Whilst it is, of course, highly satisfactory that the 
despatch of a great National Exploring Expedition 
should at last have been achieved, the difticulties en- 
countered in the early stages and the parsimony of 
the British Government are not calculated to add any- 
thing to the national pride of Englishmen. At least 
throe -fourths f)f all Polar Exploration accomplished 
during the last three centuries has been achieved by 
England. In this particular case there Avcro special 
and obvious reasons why she should not have held 
back. Yet she did so for so long that Germany — a 
nation comparatively in its infancy, and a novice so 
fill- as Polar Exploration is concerned — not only took 



POLAR DISCOVERY 3 i i 

the lead, but remains on an equality with us in the 
present effort. Such facts must cause the thoughtful 
man to ask himself — Are we, as a nation, becoming 
decadent, or is it our Government merely ? 

One final word as to the value of Polar Explora- 
tion. 

The Man-in-the-Street, if he takes any interest at 
all in the matter, is usually attracted by its sjDorting 
aspect, regarding it as an exciting and hazardous con- 
test, in which man and his contrivances are pitted 
atrainst Nature in one of her sternest moods. More 
often, however, the Man-in-the-Street is unable to view 
Polar Exploration favourably, even to this extent, and, 
in that case, he regards it merely as a stupid waste of 
human energy and wealth — often, even, of human life 
— merely to gratify unreasoning curiosity. He may 
be left in his ignorance. 

Polar Exploration is almost wholly scientific in its 
aims, and scientific men alone are competent to ap- 
praise its value. That value is, in any case, seldom or 
never directly pecuniary, though it may be said with 
truth that few important acquisitions of knowledge, 
even of the most purely scientific kind, have ever been 
made which have not been turned, sooner or later, 
to practical account ; for all the Sciences are, in 
reahty, one, and any important advance that is made 
in one branch inevitably affects and advances — often 
in most unexpected ways — various (perhaps mau}^) 
other branches. 

The Man of Science does not, therefore, feel it in- 
cumbent upon him to justify his demand for further 
Antarctic Exploration by the production of definite 
reasons or the statement that there is a practical end 
in view. It is sufiicient for him that our ignorance of 
the natural conditions prevailing over the vast Antarctic 
Region is so colossal that any well-considered voyage 



3 I 2 GENERAL 

of exploration to that region cannot fail to produce 
results of incalculable scientific value. It may be said, 
however, that the information which will be obtained 
as to the magnetic conditions existing in that region 
will be capable of being turned to immediate practical 
account. 

In any case, it is absurd to take a narrow utilitarian 
view as to the value of Scientific Exploration, whether 
in the Polar Regions or elsewhere. In all human 
affairs, prestige counts for much; and, but for the 
many voyages of exploration which, in the past, this 
country has equipped and sent forth, with little or no 
hope of dn-ect and immediate practical return, our 
national prestige (to say nothing of our scientific pre- 
eminence) would stand immeasurably lower than it 
now does. In the Navy, it has often been said that 
those who have served on Polar voyages make by far 
the best ofiicers; and, in a hundred other Avays, these 
voyages have returned valuable results. It may be 
said, indeed, that the readiness or otherwise of any 
great nation to despatch such expeditions is, in most 
cases, an infallible sign of national progress or national 
decadence, as the case may be. 



THE POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS 
OF THE EMPHIE 

By L. T. HORNE 
(Of the General Post Office) 

No description of the British Empire would be com- 
plete without some account of its Intelligence Depart- 
ment, the postal system. The posts are part of tlie 
machinery of government, carrying as they do des- 
patches between the Secretary of State and the Queen's 
deputies abroad. They are part of the machinery of 
trade, maintaining communication between the colonial 
producer of raw material and the manufacturer at 
home, between the English merchant and his cus- 
tomers over the seas. And even though, for purposes 
of government and for the larger operations of com- 
merce, the telegraph has largely superseded the letter 
post, the latter has still, and probably always will have, 
the important function of maintaining the ties of social 
intercourse, cheering the lonely emigrant with news of 
those he has left behind, keeping in touch far-scattered 
families and friends, and contributing in countless ways 
to the feelings of unity and kinship which are, after 
all, the strongest bond between the various parts of 
this scattered Empire. The motto of the British Post 
Office might well be that of its famous ally, the 
P. & O. Company, " Quis sejmrahit ? " 

Not until the beginning of the eighteenth century 
was any attempt made by the British Government to 
provide postal communication between the Mother 
Country and the Colonies. Before that time every one 

313 



314 GENERAL 

who had a letter to send to North America or the 
West Indies had to make his own arrangements for 
its conveyance. For a gratuity the captain of an 
outward-bound ship would carry the letter across the 
sea ; and, as time went on, regular arrangements for 
the collection of such letters were made, bas^s for their 
reception being hung up at Lloyds and the other 
coffee-houses in London frequented by sea-captains. 
The law which gave the Post Office a monopoly of 
the conveyance of inland letters did not apply to 
letters for places abroad, and such letters rarely fell 
into the hands of the department. 

Letters from places abroad had by law to be handed 
over to the Post Office at the port of arrival, and the 
captain of the ship which brought them was entitled 
to a gratuity of id. a letter. Moreover, in London 
two men were appointed to visit incoming ships and 
collect the letters from them. Such letters were de- 
livered by the Post Office, and the inland postage was 
collected on delivery. Even at the present time no 
ship is allowed to land cargo at a port in the United 
Kingdom unless the captain has signed a declaration 
that he has given up to the Post Office all letters on 
board, with a few exceptions allowed by law. 

The first local post offices in the Colonies were 
set up for the purpose of dealing with letters 
passing to and from places abroad. Thus in 1639 
the General Court of Massachusetts published the 
following ordinance : — 

" It is ordered that notice be given that Richard 
Fairbanks his hou.se at Boston is the place appointed 
for all letters which are brought from beyond the seas or 
are sent thither to be left with him ; and he is to take 
care that they are to be delivered or sent according to 
direction, and he is allowed for every letter a penny ; 
and he must answer all messages through his neglect 
ill i.liis kind." 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 315 

In Virginia, according to a law of 1657, every 
planter had to provide a messenger to carry despatclies 
as far as the next plantation, on pain of forfeiting a 
hogsliead of tobacco in default. The first colonial 
inland post of any extent appears to date from 1672, 
when the Government of New York established a 
monthly mail to and from Boston. In 1683 William 
Penn not only set up a post office at Philadelphia, but 
arranged for the conveyance of mails in some parts 
of Pennsylvania and Maryland. With none of these 
arrangements had the Imperial Government anything 
to do ; but by the end of the seventeenth century 
communication between the Mother Country and the 
Colonies was becoming too important to escape Govern- 
ment supervision. 

Accordingly, in 1688, James II., by an Order in 
Council, authorised the setting up of a Post Office in 
Jamaica, and " in such other of his Majesty's planta- 
tions in America ... as shall be found convenient for 
his Majesty's service and the ease and benefit of his sub- 
jects." The postage between the United Kingdom and 
Jamaica was fixed at 6d. for a single letter (i.e. a single 
sheet of paper without any enclosure), is. for a double 
letter (i.e. a letter with enclosures but weighing under 
an ounce), and 2s. an ounce. It is not clear when and 
in what conditions a Post Office was actually established 
in Jamaica, but in 1692 a licence to set up posts in 
North America was granted to one Thomas Neale, and 
he delegated the work to an energetic man named 
Andrew Hamilton, who was appointed Deputy Post- 
master-General. In 1693 Hamilton arranged a regular 
postal service between the principal places in the scat- 
tered settlements on the American coast from Ports- 
mouth in New Hampshire down to Virginia, employing 
five men on horseback to cover five stages twice a 
week in sunnner and once a fortnight in winter. The 
enterprise proved an unprofitable one to Neale, whose 



3i6 GENERAL 

expenses largely exceeded tlie revenue from the postage, 
and in 1707 lie surrendered his patent to the Crown 
for ^1664. The posts in America were thereafter 
administered as a branch of the British Post Office 
down to the Revolution, at which time one of the joint 
Deputy Postmasters-General of America was Benjamin 
Franklin. Even at that time the operations of the 
Post Office were practically confined to places on the 
Atlantic coast. As to Canada, Franklin stated in 1760 
that '• there is only one post, between Quebec and 
Montreal ; the inhabitants live so scattered and remote 
from each other in that vast country that the posts 
cannot be supported among them." 

While in ordinary times there were sufficient 
private ships sailing to and from the Colonies to carry 
the few letters then sent, in time of war, when over- 
sea trade Avas almost at a stand-still, the need arose 
for some other means of communication. It was the 
outbreak of the war with France in 1702 which called 
into being the first mail-packet service with the 
Colonies, sloops of war being provided by the Admi- 
ralty to carry the mails to and from the West Indies. 
These vessels sailed at uncertain intervals, and the 
voyage out and home occupied from 90 to 116 days. 
Mr. Dummer, Surveyor of the Navy, was so pleased 
with the result that he undertook a contract for the 
service. For ;^ 12,500 a year he was to build five 
boats of 1 40 tons each (about twice the size of a large 
fishing-boat), carrying 26 men and 10 guns. These 
boats were to sail to and from the West Indies once 
a month. A comparison with the present West India 
mail service is interesting. Nowadays the steamships 
of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Avhich 
carry mails regularly once a fortnight to and from 
Barbados and Jamaica, are from five to six thousand 
tons burden. The voyage to Jamaica occupies sixteen 
days, and the answer to a letter addressed to that 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 317 

colony can be received in London within thirty-five 
days. 

Dnmnier's venture proved to be an unfortunate 
one. The first packet under the contract fell into the 
hands of the enemy ; a few months later a second was 
wrecked, and a third captured by a privateer. By 
1 7 1 o he had lost nine vessels, six to privateers. 
His traffic receipts were disappointing, and in 1 7 1 i 
the service was discontinued. Some other similar ser- 
vices were projected about the same time. For example, 
in 1703 Sir Jeffery Jefiferys received permission to 
establish a packet to sail from the Isle of Wight to 
New York, two voyages to be performed every six or 
seven months; and in 17 10 the Post Office made a 
contract for a monthly service between Bristol and New 
York. This service came to an end in 17 14, two years 
after the Peace of Utrecht ; and from that time to the 
war of 1 744, and again during the few years of peace 
after 1749, there were no colonial packets. 

The permanent establishment of a regular mail 
service to and from the West Indies and America dates 
from 1755. The number and size of the packets were 
gradually increased, so that they might be better able 
to escape from storms and privateers ; and some of 
their adventurous and often heroic doings in the 
following years are narrated in Mr. Norway's " History 
of the Packet Service." 

The postal communication with India was at first 
maintained chiefly by the ships of the East India Com- 
pany, which called at the Cape of Good Hope and 
Mauritius, and conveyed letters to and from those 
places also ; and when, towards the end of George the 
Third's reign, the Post Office tried to get into its hands 
all correspondence for places abroad, it naturally got 
into difficulties with the Company. In the end, by an 
Act of 181 9, it was laid down that letters for the East 
Indies, the Cape, Ceylon, and Mauritius might be sent 



3 I 8 GENERAL 

otherwise than through the post ; at the same time 
every ship saiHng to those phxces was bound to convey 
mails thither free of charge, and very low rates of sea 
postage were fixed for correspondence entrusted to 
the Post Office for transmission. 

Formerly, the owners of private ships could, and 
sometimes did, decline to take charge of mails, but an 
Act of 1 8 1 5 gave the Post Office power to send a mail 
by any private ship leaving a port of the United King- 
dom, and made it obligatory on the captain of such 
ship to deliver the mail to the Postmaster of the port 
of destination. The Postmaster-General was authorised 
to pay for the conveyance of sliip letters certain fixed 
gratuities. It now became unnecessary for persons 
wishing to send letters to countries not served by 
Government packets to search out a ship going thither 
and arrange with tlie captain to take charge of their 
missives. The Post Office in most cases would and 
could find the ship and arrange for the conveyance of 
the letters. The arrangement influenced the establish- 
ment of colonial posts in another way. Persons had 
to be appointed in the chief ])orts of the colonies to 
receive the mails from incoming ships. Thus a Mr. 
Nichols was designated by the Governor to act as post- 
master at Sydney in 1 8 1 o, and a Mr. Beaumont at 
Hobart, Tasmania, in 1812, though there were no 
inland posts in any part of Australia until much later. 
Such men as a rule made their own charges for the 
letters which they received and despatched, and as the 
Colonies developed they arranged posts between the 
ports and ])]aces inland. 

This state of things lasted until the application of 
stcain to navigation, and the inunensc increase in trade, 
travel, and emigration Avhich accompanied that revolu- 
tion. Coiiiiiiiinii'alidii between the Mother Country and 
the Colonics was slow and generally infrequent and 
irregular; the postage on letters was high and gene- 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 319 

rally carried only to the port of arrival ; but the system 
was probably fairly adequate to the needs of the time. 
Judt^a-id by a modern standard, the total ainount of the 
('orrcspondence was very small. Probably that with 
India was the t,freatost : in 1833 there were no less 
than 427 ships by which mails were sent to and from 
that country ; and the postage was exceptionally low 
for that time (letters, 2d. for 3 oz. and is. for each 
additional ounce ; newspapers, i d. per oz., in addition 
to the British inland postage, which varied according 
to the distance) ; but the total amount carried for the 
Post Office in these ships was only : — 





Outwards. 


Inwards. 


Number of letters 


■ 87,514 


281,090 


Number of newspapers 


. 70,746 


5,086 



Evidently most of the outward letters did not pass 
through the post. The figures for the Indian mail 
service in the year 1899- 1900 were: — - 

Outwards. Inivards. 

Weight of letters and ])Ost-cards . 140,900 lbs. 107, loolbs. 
Weight of printed matter and 

samples 2,118,000 ,, 301,300 ,, 

Number of parcels . . . 108,359 7', 415 

[A pound of letters and post-cards would contain on the average 
about 30 outwards and about 40 inwards.] 

In 1842 the number of letters sent by post to and 
from Australia, New Zealand, and the South Seas was 
— outwards, 79,1 58 ; inwards, 148,625. 

The figures for 1899- 1900 wore: — 

Outwards. luwards. 
Weight of letters and post-cards . 114,000 lbs. 86,200 lbs. 
Weight of printed matter and 

samples 2,101,500 „ 667,500 „ 

In 1791—92 the total amount of postage collected 
in Canada was only ^^2229. and in 1838 it had risen 
to about -1^44,000 a year; while in 1899 the re- 



320 GENERAL 

venue of the Canadian Post Office was nearly a million 
sterling. 

The change in the route of the Indian Mail from 
the Cape to Suez is associated with the name of 
Thomas Waghorn, who first made his appearance at 
the Post Office in 1827 with a scheme for building 
a steamship to ply between this country and India vid 
the Cape. He found that by an Act of Parliament, 
above referred to, the owners of vessels sailing to and 
from India had to carry mails free, and that the 
Government were not disposed to pass a special Act 
relieving him from this obligation, so that he might 
receive a subsidy for the mails he carried. After two 
years' agitation against what he no doubt considered 
" red-tape obstruction," Waghorn developed a more 
fruitful idea, that of reaching India vid Egypt. Hear- 
ing that a steamship was about to be sent from 
Bombay to Suez and back, he started from London 
on the ist of October 1829, travelled vid Trieste to 
Alexandria, across Egypt to Suez, and, not finding the 
expected steamer, made his way down the Red Sea by 
native boat, and finished the voyage in a man-of-war. 
This journey showed Waghorn the practicability of 
the Suez route, and henceforward his efforts were 
mainly directed to its development. The British Mail 
packets already went to Malta, and it was only neces- 
sary that they should go on to Alexandria. Between 
Suez and Bombay the East India Company nuist 
establish steamers. Several years passed before the 
British Government and the Company could make up 
their minds to spend i^ 100,000 a year on the con- 
veyance of mails, which had until then cost them next 
to nothing; but in 1837 the overland mail service 
was at len<;tli established, the arran<j:ements for the 
transit of the mails across Egypt being entrusted to 
Mr. Waghorn. Very little experience showed that tho 
best route for the mails between this country and 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 321 

E^gypt was through France, instead of by steamer all 
the way between Falmouth and Alexandria ; and a 
special Indian mail service, under the charge of a 
British officer, was set up between Calais and Mar- 
seilles in 1839. The mail was packed in iron boxes. 
Its total weight was about 400 lbs. A special coach 
was provided once a month for its conveyance between 
Calais and Paris. Between Calais and Marseilles, which 
was reached on the fifth day after leaving London, suffi- 
cient room was found in the ordinary mail-coach by 
excluding passengers from the inside. Nowadays a 
train of a dozen vans is drawn up on the quay of 
Calais every Friday night to receive the mail, most 
of which is brought by special steamer from Dover 
or Folkestone. The total weight averages about 
100,000 lbs. The special train, with two mail 
officers for sole passengers, runs direct to Brindisi, 
which is reached on Sunday night, and where the 
mail is put on board a fast P. & 0. steamer for 
Port Said. 

The constitutional question of the control of the 
Imperial Post Office over posts in the Colonies was 
settled by a long controversy which took place in 
reference to British North America from about 1830 
to 1850. In Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, 
New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island (then 
separate Colonies), and in Jamaica, the inland posts, 
and not merely the service to and from the Mother 
Country, were managed by deputies appointed by the 
Postmaster-General. The postage was regulated by an 
Act passed in i 765, and was very high. For example, 
to send a letter from Quebec to Montreal cost gd. ; 
from Quebec to Toronto, is. 6d. ; and from Toronto to 
Halifax, 2S. Qd. Where the revenue exceeded the 
expenditure, the surplus was remitted to London. 
The dissatisfaction aroused by this state of things was 
fomented by the newspapers, which had a special 

V X 



322 GENERAL 

ground of complaint against the Deputy Postmaster- 
General, who, under an arrangement of old standing 
but very doubtful authority, charged newspapers trans- 
mitted through the post about id. each and pocketed 
the proceeds. Accordingly, about 1830 the Canadian 
Legislatures began to agitate for the control of the 
Post Office. They urged that the Act passed in 1778 
giving the local authorities in the Colonies the net 
produce of internal taxation ought to apply to postage. 
The law officers of the Crown, consulted in 1832 on 
this point, thought that the claim could not be success- 
fully attacked at law. The Imperial Post Office, con- 
sidering its control of the posts throughout British 
North America important, in the interests of uniformity 
of postage and regulations, and in order to prevent 
rival Colonies taxing each other's letters, wished to 
meet the discontent by introducing lower rates of post- 
age, but was met with the difficulty that Parliament 
had renounced the right to impose new taxes in the 
Colonies. It was held that any alteration by Parlia- 
ment of the existing rates fixed at the beginning of 
George the Third's reit^n Avould constitute a new tax. 
In these circumstances an Act was passed in 1834, 
which, while leaving the management of the North 
American posts in the hands of the Postmaster-General, 
gave the Colonial Legislatures the power to fix postage, 
and provided that the net produce of the inland rates 
shovdd be divided proportionately among the Colonies. 
The whole arrangement was, however, dependent on 
Acts being passed by the Colonial Legislatiu'os in 
accordance with a model sent from England and de- 
signed to secure uniformity of charges and regulations. 
But the Legislatures in question, which were at the 
time seriously embroiled with the Home Government 
and with one another, declined to comply with the 
prescribed conditions, and the Act, therefore, was of 
no effect. 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 323 

In 1845, it I'eiiig desired that the Postmastcr- 
Geueral .shoidd assume control of the AiistraHan posts 
(a project which was never fully carried out), an Act 
was passed giving her Majesty's Treasury power to fix 
Colonial postage and to extend the provisions of 
British Post Office Acts to any Colony. The postal 
revenue, after meeting expenses, was to be applied to 
the development of the service, and any surplus was to 
be handed over to the Colonial Government. Appli- 
cations from the North American Colonies for a reduc- 
tion of postage now became still more pressing, and it 
was clear that concessions Avould have to be made. 
But it was estimated that with the lower rates the 
revenue would no longer cover the expenditure ; and, 
rather than carry on a losing business, the Postmaster- 
General preferred to hand over the internal posts 
entirely to the Colonial Governments. Accordingly, 
an Act of 1 849 provided that the Legislatures of 
Colonies might establish posts within such Colonies; 
but that, if the Postmaster-General had already set 
up posts in any Colony, the Legislature, before taking 
such action, must get the consent of her Majesty, 
whereupon the Postmaster-General's powers should 
cease as regards inland posts, to which alone the powers 
of the Colonial Legislature were to extend. This is 
the Act on the basis of which the postal systems of 
the British Colonies have grown up. The control of 
the posts between the Colonics and places outside them 
thus remains constitutionally with the Postmaster- 
General — a state of things which corresponds with the 
fact that in many cases the communication of the 
Colonies with the outer world depends to a great extent 
on contract packet services controlled by the Post- 
master-General. However, as the external postal rela- 
tions of the Colonies are in the main regulated by the 
International Convention of the Universal Postal 
Union, it is seldom that a case arises in which it is 



324 GENERAL 

necessary for the Postmaster-General to exercise his 
statutory rights in the interests of the Empire as a 
whole. 

The North American posts passed out of the man- 
agement of the British Post Ofhce in i 8 5 i ; the same 
course was followed in i860 in regard to the West 
Indies and Hong Kong ; and finally as regards Malta 
and Gibraltar in i 884-1 886, In accordance with the 
principles of self-government on which the British 
Empire is based, the Colonies have been left to develop 
their internal postal service to suit their own peculiar re- 
quirements. At the same time the Imperial Post Office, 
with its wider experience and outlook, watches over 
their external postal relations, is always ready to help 
with advice, and is often called on to supply trained 
administrators. 

To return to the packet service. The introduction 
of steamships at once made the sailing packets obso- 
lete, and to maintain a fleet of Government vessels 
which should be at least equal in speed to those of 
private owners soon proved an expensive business. 
Accordingly a new system was initiated in the case 
of the mails for and from the British possessions in 
the Mediterranean and the overland mails for and from 
India, the conveyance of which by Government packets 
was slow, the voyage between Falmouth and Alexandria 
often occupying from three weeks to a month. In 1837a 
contract for the service between Falmouth and Gibraltar 
was made Avith the Peninsular Steam Navigation Com- 
pany. The arrangement proved a success, and in 1840 
the contract service was extended to Malta and Alex- 
andria. In the same year tlu; comjiany determined to 
establish steam communication with India. They there- 
fore obtained incorporation under the title (now famous 
throughout the world) of the " Peninsular and Oriental 
Steam Navigation Company," and proceeded to build 
steamers for the service beyond Suez. 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 325 

At that time the Indian mails were conveyed 
between Suez and Bombay once a month by steamers 
belonging to the Indian Government, and in 1845 the 
P. & O. Company undertook to supplement this 
service by a line of steamers between Suez and Cal- 
cutta, with a branch line between Ceylon and China. 
In 1854 the company took over the Suez and Bombay 
service, and in 1859 established a branch service to 
Australia, the first regular and rapid mail service with 
that continent. The position of the company as the 
principal carriers of her Majesty's mails to and from 
India, Australia, and the Far East has not since then 
been shaken, though often attacked. On all the lines 
the time of transit has been steadily decreased, and 
though the mails have increased enormously, the 
Government now pays to the company only ;^3 30,000 
a year for a service far superior to that for which it 
paid nearly iJ^6 00,000 thirty years ago. Instead of 
the William Fauxett of 200 tons and 60 horse-power, 
the first mail steamer of the company, Ave have now 
the rapid Isis and Odris of 1700 tons and 6500 horse- 
power, which run from Brindisi to Port Said (930 
miles) in about forty-eight hours ; while the Hindostan, 
of 2000 tons and 520 horse-power, the first of the 
company's steamers to be placed on the line between 
Suez and India, and considered a marvel in 1842, 
is now represented by vessels like the Persia, of 
8000 tons and 11,000 horse-power, by means of 
which the mails reach Bombay in fourteen days, and 
Shanghai and Sydney in thirty-two days after leaving 
London. 

In 1840 the West India packets were abolished, a 
contract for the conveyance of mails to and from all 
the places served by them being made with the Royal 
Mail Steam Packet Company. At the same time Mr. 
(afterwards Sir Samuel) Cunard undertook to carry the 
mails by his steamships tAvice a month to and from 



326 GENERAL 

New York, Boston, Halifax, and Quebec, thus super- 
seding the American packets of the Government, The 
West India mail service has often since then been put 
up to public tender, but it has always been secured 
by the Royal Mail Company, whose latest successive 
contract was entered into this year (1900). The 
Cunard steamers are still the fastest British mail 
steamers crossing the Atlantic, and though they no 
longer call at Canadian ports, they still carry to 
and from New York a great part of the Canadian 
mails. 

To refer briefly to the other main lines of mail 
communication of the Empire. The first contract for 
the conveyance of mails to and from the West Coast 
of Africa was made in 1852 with the African Steam- 
ship Company, which became associated with the 
British and African Steam Navigation Company in 
1869. These two lines serve Sierra Leone, Gambia, 
Lagos, the Gold Coast, and Nigeria. 

The Cape of Good Hope mails have been carried 
by the Union Steamship Company since 1858, and by 
the Castle Line since 1876. The time of transit, 
which was forty-two days originally, has now been 
reduced to seventeen. 

In 1883 the Orient Steam Navigation Com- 
pany commenced to carry the Australian mails in 
alternate weeks with the Peninsular and Oriental 
Company. 

The Post Office has been fortunate in its con- 
tractors, and the long duration of its connections with 
the companies mentioned above is one indication that 
those connections are advantageous to both parties. 
The mails are carried by sea with almost the same 
regularity as on land ; while, on the other hand, the 
mail subsidies have helped to l)uil(l up the British 
mercantile marine. Considerable sums are contri- 
buted by India and the principal Colonies towards 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 327 

the cost of their ocean mail services. For example, 
of the sum of ;6^4 14,700 paid in 1899 for the 
sea conveyance of mails to and from India, the 
Far East, and Australia, India contributed ;6^48,ooo, 
the Australian Colonies £yi,S6S, and the Eastern 
Colonies £1 3,400. The South African Colonies defray 
nearly half the cost of their mail service to and from 
England. 

In 1850a low and uniform postage having been 
established in this country, Mr. Rowland Hill turned 
his attention to the colonial posts. A sum of 8d. or 
IS. was then required to carry a letter to the shores of 
a colony ; and in nearly every case there were addi- 
tional charges for conveyance or delivery within the 
colony. An inclusive charge of 6d. was proposed, and 
by 1857 had been universally adopted. Cheap rates 
for books were introduced at the same time. But in 
1 86 1 a reaction set in. The authorities became 
alarmed at the loss on the packet service, the cost of 
which, they held, should be covered by the postage. 
Accordingly in 1862 the postage to the Cape and the 
West Indies was raised to is. the half-ounce, and a 
similar increase took place in other cases. In 1874 
the great international Federation of Post Offices, 
known as the Postal Union, was founded ; and during 
the next few years most of the British Colonies, with 
the exception of those in Australasia and South Africa, 
became members of the Union. A reduction of postage 
was the result of this measure. Within a short time 
the rate per half-ounce to and from Canada and New- 
foundland became 2 id., to and from India and the 
Eastern Colonies 5d., and to and from the Cape and 
Australia 6d. At last in 1891 uniftu-mity of postage 
was again secured, the rate of 2^d. the half-ounce being 
applied to letters sent from the United Kingdom to 
any other part of the Empire. 

Seven years later came a further change. At a 



328 GENERAL 

conference held in London in the autumn of 1898 
between representatives of the Home Government and 
the Colonies it was determined to adopt, as far as 
practicable, the rate of i d. the half-ounce for the trans- 
mission of letters from one part of the Empire to 
another, and the change was carried out generally on 
Christmas Day in that year. The South African 
Colonies did not come into the arrangement until a 
few months later. New Zealand has only just given 
notice of her intention to do the same on the ist of 
January 1901. It remains to be seen whether the 
Australian Colonies will follow suit. 

The parcel post, which commenced with India in 
1885, was soon extended to all the Colonies. Apart 
from the benefit of the parcel post to trade, a cheap 
and accessible means of sending small presents and 
mementos between friends in distant lands has its 
importance in keeping fresh the ties of sentiment, as 
witness the thousands of parcels of plum pudding, holly 
and mistletoe despatched from England about Christ- 
mas time, and the heather which finds its way in the 
late summer to Scotsmen who are building up the 
Empire in all parts of the world. A similar service is 
rendered by the colonial money order system, which 
dates from an arrangement made with Canada in 1859, 
and which is largely used by hardworking sons and 
daughters in distant colonies to send money for the 
support of those they have left behind in the old 
country. 

The postal relations between the British Empire 
and other countries are regulated by the Convention of 
the Postal Union, of which all the civilised and half 
civilised countries of the world are members, with the 
exception of China. All important questions are settled 
at a great international congress which meets every six 
years. In that congress delegates from Australia, 
Canada, British South Africa, and India sit side by 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 329 

side with the representatives of the British Post Office 
in what is the nearest approach yet reaUsed to — 

" Tlie Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." 

The internal development of the post offices of 
the Colonies has been remarkable. To take a few 
examples : — 

In 1840 there were 54 post offices open in New 
South Wales, which in those days included what is now 
the Colony of Victoria; in 1898 there were 1500, not 
counting receiving offices. Sixty years ago the revenue 
was ;i^4300 and the expenditure ;^3900; in 1898 the 
revenue was ^^920,000 and the expenditure ^^^848, 000. 
The bulk of the mails half a century ago is indicated 
by the statement in a report of 1845 that " The mails 
are conveyed to and from the harbour (at Sydney) in 
the mail cart, if the horse is not otherwise employed or 
the mail too bulky." In 1899 there were despatched 
from New South Wales for the United Kingdom alone 
180,000 lbs. of ordinary mail matter, and 9000 
parcels. The average number of letters, newspapers, 
&c., sent and received in New South Wales is about 
1 00 per annum for each man, woman, and child. This 
is almost the highest average for any country in the 
world. For the United Kingdom, for instance, the 
corresponding number is 88. 

In 1824 there were sixty-nine post offices in the 
Canadas — that is to say, in the present provinces • of 
Ontario and Quebec — where, in 1899, there were 
5000 offices. In the whole of the Dominion there 
are now 9500 offices, or one for every 500 inhabitants. 
The mail routes over Canadian territory are of great 
extent, even the remote district of Klondike getting a 
mail once or twice a week. 

The postal service in the Cape Colony dates from 
1806, when correspondence began to be forwarded 
from and to Cape Town by relays of Hottentots, the 



330 GENERAL 

postage ranging from 6d. for a single slieet to or from 
Simon's Bay, to 2s. for a single slieet to or from Graaf- 
Reinet, Algoa Bay, &c. In that year tlie total revenue 
was ;^38. Six years later it is recorded that the 
weekly post to Graham's Town covered the distance 
of nearly 600 miles in eight days, and that to Graaf- 
Reinet (about 500 miles) was due to arrive in seven 
days. These places are now only forty-three and 
thirty hours respectively distant by mail train from 
Cape Town. Now there are nearly a thousand post 
offices in the colony, and the organisation of the mail 
service is very complete. Before the war, which broke 
out in October 1899, and ended in the annexation of 
the Transvaal and Orange Free State to the British 
Empire, travelling post offices ran between Cape Town 
and Johannesburg in the Transvaal ; the thinly- popu- 
lated territory is covered by a network of cart and 
mounted posts ; and even if the stories of mail-carts 
drawn by zebras and ostriches are mythical, it is cer- 
tain that in some districts near the Kalahari Desert the 
mails are carried on camel-back. The revenue of the 
post office in 1898 exceeded ^600,000, showing a 
surplus over expenditure of nearly ^^9000. 

All the principal Colonies, besides providing for the 
carriage and delivery of correspondence, have their 
money order, postal order, and savings bank services, 
and give all the other facilities expected from the 
post office in these days. Indeed postal reformers are 
beginning to hold up the colonial post offices as an 
example in some respects to the post office of the 
Mother Country. The latter, naturally more conser- 
vative and slow-moving, will probably in the future 
have nuich to learn from its progressive offspring. 
Should it, for example, ever be called upon to arrange 
for the payment of old age pensions, it will profit by 
the experience of New Zealand, where the post office 
already performs that function. Tnsjjired thus by a 



POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS OF EMPIRE 331 

spirit of healthy rivalry in their separate spheres of 
operation, and heartily co-operating in all matters of 
joint utility, the post offices of the several parts of the 
British Empire may be expected to move forward in 
their great work of maintaining the social, commercial, 
and political conmmnications of that Empire through- 
out the world. 



ELECTEIC TELEGRAPH SERVICE 

CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 
By FEEDINAND E. KAPPEY 

For Great Britain, at least, that mighty electric nerve- 
system, known as the submarine telegraph, may be said 
to stand as a concrete definition of Imperial unity; 
and for the world, as an earnest of that mutual under- 
standing and oneness of purpose by which alone the 
advancement of the race is possible. Regarded merely 
as the most potent factor in the maintenance of Empire, 
the submarine cable would more than justify its exist- 
ence, though to narrow the issues to this extent would 
argue a poor appreciation of the immense benefits which 
have otherwise accrued from its employment. It is, 
perhaps, natural that the vast material interests which 
are fostered by its means should claim prior con- 
sideration. As the controlling instrument of national 
aggrandisement and individual enterprise, the tremen- 
dous powers for good or ill which it exercises throughout 
the civilised world are at once obvious and insistent ; 
while its ethical significance is all too easily lost sight of. 
So that, to show something more than an intelligent 
apprehension of this mystery of instantaneous inter- 
communication, it is necessary to touch upon the 
various spheres of interest which its use involves, and 
to estimate as far as possible its influence on modern 
life and modern thought. To cover the whole field in 
anything like detail would, of course, be impossible in 
the space at our command, but some indication will be 

given later on of its general effects upon the political and 

33a 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 333 

commercial tendencies of the age, and the moralities of 
our daily intercourse. 

It will be of interest if, before considering the 
leading submarine cables and their principal land 
comnmnications in their special relation to our colonies, 
we briefly record the " first beginnings," — those experi- 
ments which ultimately led to the gigantic undertakings 
Avhich are now among the everyday commonplaces ; 
for, like all great epoch-making enterprises, enormous 
difficulties were encountered only to be overcome, 
and the final triumph achieved when failure appeared 
inevitable. 

It must not be supposed that the credit of the 
inspiration falls wholly to the nineteenth century, for 
we find that as far back as 1793, Salva, a Spanish 
scientist who is best remembered in this regard, read 
a paper before the Barcelona Academy of Sciences, in 
which he suggested the possibility of submarine tele- 
graphy, although he does not appear to have troubled 
himself about demonstrating the practicability of his 
theories. This apparently was left to Aldini, a nephew 
of the great Galvani, who in 1803 is said to have 
successfully conducted a scries of experiments off Calais, 
and also across the river Marne ; while Sommering and 
Schilling in 1 8 1 1 , with the benefit of Aldini's ex^Jerience 
to work upon, succeeded in obtaining fairly satisfactory 
results across the Isar near Munich. Their experiments, 
as Mr. C. Bright points out in his work upon this 
subject, were mainly concerned with the adoption of 
some soluble insidating material, the precise nature of 
which is at present doubtful, but which nevertheless 
proved practicable for the short distance operated over. 
Two years later, John Robert Sharpe took the work in 
hand, and was successful in transmitting a code of 
signals through seven miles of insulated wire. Of all 
the experiments referred to however, particulars are 
wanting, for beyond their mere mention there does not 



3 34 GENERAL 

appear to be any trustworthy account as to their 
conduct. The first really important experiment, be- 
cause the fullest recorded, was undertaken at Chatham 
in 1 8 3 8 by Colonel Pasley (afterwards Sir F. C. Pasley). 
His experiments were mainly conducted from Upnor- — 
facing the dockyard — and the results achieved were 
regarded as eminently successful. He not only sent 
and received messages through various lengths of wire, 
but is reputed to have established a temporary connec- 
tion with his barracks whence he took orders from his 
commanding officer. In the absence of gutta-percha, 
which w^as then unknown, the materials he employed 
for insulating purposes were essentially crude, — con- 
sisting, indeed, of strands of pitched yarn and tarred 
rope firmly encasing the wire. It was by means of this 
" cable " that he afterwards established communication 
with the wreck of the Hoi/al George oif Spithead, during 
the diving operations in connection with that ill-fated 
ship. 

From this stage forward until 1845 ^ number of 
experiments Avere conducted in many parts of the 
world, with almost uniform success. The variations 
adopted on Sir F. C. Pasley 's principle were slight, 
imtil the advent of those " elect few " who gave the 
best of their time and talent towards the solution of 
submarine telegraphy. Such names as Professor Morse, 
Sir C. Wheatstone, Ezra Cornell, and Charles West will 
readily occur as among those who did most to solve 
the difficulties of that most difficult problem. Great 
as their services were however, their efforts fell short 
in point of ])ractical application. To the brothers 
Brett, more than to any others, and to Jacob Brett 
in particular, belongs the credit of having first brought 
aliout international communication. The Bretts ob- 
tained a concession from the French Government 
to establish cable connection between France and 
England, and a company was duly registered for that 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 335 

purpose and the funds provided. Unfortunately the 
time stipulated by the French Government for the 
completion of the line did not provide for the failures 
and disappointments inevitable in a new enterprise 
involving so many risks and unknown factors, Avith the 
consequence that the concession was withdrawn. A 
new concession was solicited and granted early in 
185 I, and on the 19th October of that year the first 
submarine cable was open to the public for traffic. It 
was about this time also that an English telegraph 
engineer resident in Nova Scotia, a Mr. F. N. Gisburne 
— whether acting on independent initiative, or indebted 
to Bishop Mullock, who a year previously had sug- 
gested the scheme in a letter addressed to the American 
Courier — lent his whole energies to the establishment 
of telegraphic communication between Newfoundland 
and New York. As Mr. George Saward pointed out 
in his narrative of the Trans- Atlantic Submarine Tele- 
graph, which was published for private circulation in 
1878, Mr. Gisborne's scheme coincided with that of 
the Bishop, whose plan was to unite St. Johns to 
Cape Ray by land-wire, extend the line of comnumica- 
tion by submarine telegraph from Cape Ray to St. Paul's 
Island, thence to Cape North (Cape Breton), and from 
that point, by a route to be subsequently determined, 
to the American mainland, where existing land-wires 
could be met, and comnumication with New York at 
once effected. The details of the project, taking into 
consideration the fact that grave doubt existed as to the 
practicability of submarine cables, included a proposal 
to utilise steamers and carrier pigeons as a temporary 
means of communication between Cape Ray and Cape Bre- 
ton, until the possibility of the cable scheme was fully 
demonstrated. In his relations with the Newfound- 
land Legislature Mr. Gisborne was entirely successful. 
He obtained an Act of Incorporation conferring 
important concessions of land, besides the ' exclusive 



336 GENERAL 

riglit of erecting telegraphs in the Colony during a 
period of thirty years." Armed with these powers he 
went to New York and interested various capitalists in 
the scheme. The encouragement he received on all 
hands Avas such that he set to work, and, in the words 
of Mr. Saward, " in spite of formidable engineering 
difficulties and great personal dangers and privations, 
he bravely persevered in making a survey of the 
hitherto unexplored country westward of St. Johns, 
and commenced the erection of an electric telegraph 
by land in the direction of Cape Ray." The idea of 
the steamers and the carrier pigeons was by this time 
abandoned, since various cables had been landed in 
Europe and were operating without their use. The 
land-wires being completed, Mr. Gisborne purchased 
and shipped from England a cable sufficiently long 
for the purpose immediately in view, and succeeded 
for a short time in bringing Prince Edward Island 
and New Brunswick into direct communication. The 
breaking of this cable shortly after, and the financial 
difficulties into which Mr. Gisborne was subsequently 
involved, practically decided the future history of sub- 
marine telegraphy ; for, visiting New York in January 
1854, with the desired completion of his work still 
uppermost in his mind, he there made the acquaintance 
of Mr. Cyrus W. Field, whose sympathies he speedily 
enlisted, and who was soon to throw his whole weiiifht 
into the enterprise, with the object, doubtless, of assist- 
ing the more important project of trans- Atlantic com- 
munication suggested by the lesser undertaking. 

From that date forward, and for twelve years, Mr. 
Field laboured with untiring energy and devotion to 
complete the great work. There is no need to tra- 
verse more than the main incidents comprised within 
that fruitful period. Bitter disappointments were for 
the most part the interim rewards of his labour, and 
but for the boundless confidence of Mr. Joliii Pender 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 337 

(afterwards Sir John Pender, G.C.M.G.) in its ultimate 
success, the scheme would, in all probability, have been 
indefinitely postponed. At the outset, and following 
Mr. Field's visit to this country in search of support, 
345 gentlemen were found willing to contribute ;^iooo 
each towards the expenses incurred in the initial ex- 
periment, of whom Mr. Pender was one. When the 
effort had failed, and two cables of the Atlantic Com- 
pany (as the undertaking was then styled) had been 
lost within less than a mile of the Irish coast, the 
Great Eastern steamship was chartered to attempt 
the laying of a third and specially constructed cable ; 
but when this, too, had parted in mid-ocean, the 
financial ruin of the Company was complete. 

Nothing daunted, Mr. Field and Mr. Pender again 
pressed forward, only to find that much of the con- 
fidence which they had previously inspired in the 
public was shattered, and that the funds deemed 
necessary were far in excess of the offers of assistance 
which now came to them. It was then that Mr. 
Pender, meeting the emergencies of the moment in 
full Hood, offered the " Gutta-Percha Company " his 
personal guarantee of a quarter of a million sterling 
upon their undertaking, in conjunction with Messrs. 
Glass, Elliot & Co., to supply the material for the 
cable. The offer was accepted, and in 1866 the new 
cable was successfully laid, and the old one recovered 
from a depth of 1950 fathoms, or nearly two miles. 
Public confidence being thus restored, other great 
cable lines were projected, and in 1869 a series of 
companies were registered to acquire the rights of 
establishing and extending conununications between 
Great Britain and her Eastern Colonies. Private 
enterprise was alone responsible for the remarkable 
results that ensued, the Government refraining from 
lending any assistance whatever in the shape of sub- 
sidies or guarantees, — a significant fact when we 



3 38 GENERAL 

consider that the " Red Sea and Telegraph to India 
Company" of 1858, an undertaking of far less import- 
ance to the general community, had the benefit of 
such assistance — as, indeed, did all the Mediterranean 
Cable Companies prior to the agitation for an exten- 
sion of the cable service to the Far East. 

The British India Company ; the Marseilles, 
Algiers, and Malta Company ; and the Falmouth, Gib- 
raltar, and Malta Telegraph Company, were the initial 
outcome of the demands which now existed ; and by 
means of land-lines between London and Land's End, 
and cables touching Lisbon, Gibraltar, and Malta, 
direct communication with our Eastern possessions 
was effected. The China Telegraph Company was 
also registered about this time with the object of con- 
necting Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai ; and in 
1870 the British Australia Telegraph Company was 
formed to establish connections between Singapore and 
Batavia. The cable to Australia was laid in 1871, but 
it was not until 1872 that regular traffic with the 
Australian continent was promoted, owing to the im- 
perfect land-wire system, and the breakdown of the 
Banjoewangie-Port Darwin Cable. The subsequent 
amalgamation of the four companies operating this 
side of India, and their registration under the name 
of the Eastern Telegraph Company, conduced to bring 
about a thoroughly efficient working. The further 
registration in 1873 of The Eastern Extension 
Australasia and China Telegraph Company, absorb- 
ing the Companies which existed eastward of India, 
and the duplicate and triplicate lines since submerged 
between many points, decided the system which to-day 
enables us to coinnumicatc with our remotest colonies 
with such admirable facility. Briefly summarising 
the.se achievements, the far Eastern countries (beyond 
India) were brought into direct tclegra2)hic communi- 
cation with Great Britain on the following dates : 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 339 

Penang, 1871 ; Singapore, 1870; Hong Kong, 1871 ; 
Saigon, 1871; Java, 1870; Australia, 1872. 

It will be seen that these places are given in the 
order of their distance from Great Britain, and that 
the lines accomplished in 1870 therefore involved the 
use of land-lines vid Bangkok — Bombay. 

Having briefly traced the results achieved during 
the earlier career of submarine telegraphy, we may 
now proceed to touch upon the system at present 
obtaining, with sole reference, of course, to our Colo- 
nies,^ — including, as far as possible, a rapid survey of the 
principal land-line schemes and their ramifications. 

Beginning with Canada, which, as we have slioAvn, 
was brought into comnumication with the Mother 
Country at the outset, the total mileage of telegraph 
lines is given at 32,891, including cable lines, showing 
a steady yearly increase since 1886. Before that date 
the returns are officially stated as defective. In 1886, 
however, the number of miles was given at 25,336, 
making a total increase over the years intervening of 
7555. Of the gross total only 2ggoh miles are Govern- 
ment property. The balance, comprising as it does 
nearly 30,000 miles, is conducted by the Great 
Western Telegraph Company and the Canadian Pacific 
Railway Company from Quebec westward ; and, in the 
maritime provinces, by the Western Union Telegraph 
Company. The yearly average number of messages 
sent over the Government lines alone is 42,550; and, 
in 1898, the expenditure over revenue in regard 
thereto amounted to 45,982 dollars. The Canadian 
Pacific Railway, operating these lines, retains the 
revenue. Government reimbursing the excess. The 
number of messages sent over the entire system 
during the year stated amounted to 4.407,265. It 
would be interesting to compare this with the number 
of messages sent prior to the landing of the submarine 
cable. Unfortunately, no reliable data can be obtained 



340 



GENERAL 



farther back than 1882, but it is at least affiriiied that 
the traffic more than doubled itself in the five years 
following the first cable connections. 

The following table will show at a glance the 
mileage of land and cable lines owned by private 
companies and Government in the several Provinces 
in the Dominion : — 



Government. 



Location of Lines. 


Laud-lines. 


Cables. 




Miles. 


Knots. 


Newfoundland 


14 


— 


Nova Scotia 






229J 


22| 


New Brunswick 






76 


IOI4 


Quebec .... 






II42I 


164I 


Ontario .... 




24i 


9I 


North- West 






698 




Britisli Columbia 






567 






Private. 



Companies. 


Miles of Line. 


Miles of AVire. 


Great North- Western Telegrajjh Co. 
Canadian Pacific Railway Co. . 
Western Union .... 


18,228 

8,385 
2,935 


34,545 

33,143 

8,386 



From Halifax direct cable communication is ex- 
tended to Bermuda, and from Bermuda to Jamaica — 
wliich can also be reached in one transmission from 
Halifax over The Halifax and Bermudas and Direct 
West India Cal)les. Almost all the West Indian 
Islands are embraced in the system by means of 
the West India and Panama Company's cables, as far 
as Borbice and Demerara in British Guiana. 

Africa. — Our African possessions are all in direct 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 341 

Loucli willi the Mother Country and with each other 
by various systems and routes, which are yearly ex- 
tending their ramifications to the very heart of the 
Bhick Continent. Wholly circumscribed by the sub- 
marine cable, there is no port or coast-town of import- 
ance which is not in direct or indirect communication 
with all parts of the world. Cape Colony, " our chiefest 
interest," may claim our first attention. At this mo- 
ment we are able to include the Transvaal and the 
Orange Free State (with some modifications in the 
names of these late Republics) under this heading. 

From Durban the Cape Government lines radiate 
in all directions, taking in Natal and the two States 
mentioned in one comprehensive system. Cape Town 
and Port Elizabeth, two equally important cable stations, 
also extend land-wires as far north as Mafeking, and 
combine at various points with the lines concentrating 
at Durban. 

During the year 1898, forty-nine new telegraph 
offices were opened in Cape Colony, fourteen by the 
British South Africa Company within the area of their 
operations, thirty in Natal, and eleven by the African 
Trans-Continental Telegraph Company, which suffi- 
ciently indicates the rapid growth of the system and 
the demands which make that growth a necessity. A 
third route will shortly connect South Africa with Great 
Britain, extending to St. Vincent (Cape Verde). Al- 
ready the section between Cape Town, St. Helena, and 
Ascension is open for traffic. 

The construction of the African Trans- Continental 
telegraph system is still in active progress, and its com- 
pletion may be looked for at no very distant date. 
Already over 1000 miles are finished, the Karonga- 
Abercorn section being the last officially reported com- 
plete and in working order. The undertaking stands 
as follows : Cape Town can work to Salisbury direct, a 
distance of 1634 miles, with two relay stations between. 



342 GENERAL 

" From Salisbury there should be little difficulty in 
opening communication with Abercorn — 1225 miles ; 
and taking these two sections as a basis, three more 
stretches of some 1270 miles each would complete the 
through distance — Cape to Caho and Alexandria, with 
five transmitting offices." It will therefore be possible, 
on the completion of the trans-Continental scheme, to 
send a telegram from Cape Town to London overland, 
excepting only some thirty miles of geographically 
inevitable water. The undertaking is, of course, one 
of colossal magnitude, and was to have been completed 
in 1902. But the South African war has so delayed 
the operations that it is difficult to say when its accom- 
plishment may be looked for. 

It is proposed, and we believe that the work is 
already in hand, to lay a cable from Durban to 
Mauritius, Mauritius to Cocos and Keeling Island, 
thence to Perth (Australia), and thence to Adelaide, 
so that South Africa will be in dhect communication 
with the Australian continent. An alternative route 
to Australia from Great Britain Avill thus be eft'ected 
vid Cape Town. 

Our East African possessions are directly connected 
by three cables belonging to the African Direct, Spanish 
National, and West African Companies. The Eastern 
Company takes up with the West African Company's 
cables, which starts from St. Vincent, at Lisbon, and 
with the Brazilian Submarine Company's cable vid 
Lisbon — Madeira. 

India. — The cable connections of India are made at 
Bombay on the cast and Madras on the west, complete 
comnumication being established with all the provinces, 
from Nagarcoil on the extreme south to Cabul on the 
extreme north, the Indo-European and the Eastern 
Companies l)eing joiuily responsible U\y the submarine 
undertakings. The land-lines, all of which can be 
operated to connect with the cables, are estimated 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 343 

at 50,306 miles, mostly the property of the Indian 
Government ; and in a country which is held by force, 
the absolute necessity of State control over the various 
circuits is obvious. Little need be said concerning the 
Inland Telegraphic Department of India, as the subject 
has been ably and exhaustively treated elsewhere by 
Mr. C, H. Reynolds, CLE. Suflfice to say that there is 
scarcely a township throughout that enormous territory, 
and scarcely an outpost in the fever-stricken swamps 
and jungles that abound in many provinces, which is 
not in telegraphic communication with the world. 
Ceylon is connected with the Indian mainland at 
Ramnad by a double cable, the main Island connec- 
tions concentrating at Kandy, from which Colombo, 
Point do Galle, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee can be 
communicated with. 

Australasia. — The coast of Western Australia is 
touched by the cables (vid Java) at Broome on the 
extreme west, and at Port Darwin on the extreme 
north. The bulk of the Australian traffic passes over 
the trans-Continental line erected between Port Darwin 
and Adelaide, begun in 1870 and completed in 1872. 
The immense hardships encountered in the construction 
of this line renders it one of the most remarkable feats 
in the history of land-line undertakings. The line 
covers a distance of no less than 1973 miles, and passes 
through almost unknown territory, with little if any 
surface water, and formidable natural obstacles which 
rendered the transport a matter of almost insuperable 
difficulty. 

With the exception of two comparatively short 
strips on the coast-line — Burketown to Palmerston, 
and Palmerston to Derby — Australia is circumscribed 
by the telegraph. Every coast town from Broome to 
Somerset is readily accessible from any station through- 
out the five colonies which constitute the continent; 
and as the history of the four main colonies — Western 



344 GENERAL 

Australia being the least known of the quintet, as also 
the most barren — may be said to run parallel, it will 
be sufficient if we indicate the inception and growth of 
the electric telegraph in, say New South Wales, which 
may be taken as representative of Victoria, Queensland, 
and Southern Australia, making due regard, of course, 
for their size and relative importance. On 26th 
January 1858 the first telegraph was employed in this 
colony between Sydney and Liverpool, a distance of 
twenty-two miles. From this beginning the system 
increased with enormous rapidity, and shows to-day a 
mileage of 13,242 open lines, with 35,630 miles of 
wire in actual use, and some 700 miles in course of 
construction. 

Compared with Queensland, which is more than 
double the area of New South Wales, these totals may 
seem at first sight out of all proportion to the 10,088 
miles of line and 18,565 miles of wire contained in the 
former colony. But the geographical positions and the 
natural resources of the two colonies must be considered 
in the estimate, when the actual differences will be 
easily accounted for. 

Neiu Zealand. — From Sydney a double cable con- 
nects New Zealand at Nelson on the north of South 
Island, and thence by single cable to Wanganni on 
south of North Island ; North and South Islands being 
further connected by double cable between Wellington 
and Blenheim, with land-line connections to Mongonni 
on the extreme north, and Campbelltown on the extreme 
south. The number of miles of line in 1899 was 
6736, with 18.746 miles of wire throughout the system, 
or just double the mileage that existed in 1882, an 
eloquent tribute to tlie advance which New Zealand 
has made in the space of eighteen years. 

The statistical abstract for the year ending 1898 
gives the following total mileage of telegraph lines open 
in our various colonial possessions. 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 345 



Possessions. 


Mileage. 




India .... 


50,306 




Straits Settlements . 


Not received 




Ceylon .... 


1,161 


Excluding cable lines 


Mauritius .... 


13s 




Labuan .... 


Not received 




Hong Kong 


/Cannot be| 
I given J 




AUSTRALASIA :— 






New South Wales . 


■3,242 


I Excluding railway tele- 

1 graph lines 


Victoria .... 


6,599 




South Australia 


5,514 


{ Including the Northern 
Territory 


Western Australia. 


5,886 




Tasmania 


1,927 


Excluding cable lines 
( Excluding railway tele- 


New Zealand . 


6,736 


} graph lines and in- 
( eluding cable lines 


Queensland . 


10,088 




Natal .... 


801 i 




Zululand .... 


159 


Annexed to Natal 


Cape of Good Hope . 


7,224 




St. Helena 


30 




Lagos .... 


230 




Gold Coast 


688 




NORTH AMERICA :— 






Canada .... 


32,891 


Including cable lines 


Newfoundland 


1,314 


Government lines only 


West India Islands :— 






Bermuda .... 


44 


Excluding cable lines 


Bahamas .... 


6 


Do. 


Jamaica .... 


635 


Excluding railway tele- 
graph lines 


Trinidad .... 


94 


i Including railway tele- 

1 graph lines 

1 Excluding railway tele- 


British Guiana . 


476 


] graph lines and" cable 
( lines 


Malta .... 


65 





The long contemplated All-British cable scheme, 
known as the Pacific cable, the construction of which 
has now been definitely decided upon, may claim our 
attention for a few moments in view of its importance 
as a prospective " weapon " of innnense strategic possi- 
bilities, and an instrument of the highest commercial 
value. The route suggested by Sir Sandford Fleming, 



346 GENERAL 

and ultimately decided on by the Governments con- 
cerned, is, vid Canada, Norfolk Island, Fanning Island, 
and Fiji, whence it would bifurcate, one branch extending 
to New Zealand and the other to the eastern coast 
of Australia, where the land-lines would complete 
communication with the western coast. From some 
convenient point — King George's Sound for preference 
— the cable would be carried on to Cocos Island, and 
from here to the Island of Mauritius, and so to Natal 
or Cape Town. It has been pointed out that the Cocos 
would so become an important telegraph centre ; it 
would be a convenient point for connecting Singapore 
by a branch cable, Singapore is already in connection 
with Hong Kong by an All-British cable vid Labuan. 
India could be reached by a branch cable from Cocos 
to Colombo or Trincomalee in Ceylon. At Mauritius a 
connection could be formed with the existing cable to 
Seychelles, Aden, and Bombay. In order to avoid the 
shallow seas along the West Coast of Africa, Spain, 
Portugal, and France, it is proposed that the cable 
should extend from Cape Town to Bermuda, touching 
at St. Helena, Ascension, Barbados, as mid-ocean 
stations. At Bermuda a connection would be formed 
with the existing cable to Halifax, and from that 
point with the Canadian and Trans-Atlantic lines. Sir 
S, Fleming estimated that the total distance for which 
new cables would bo required — of which 20,250 knots 
would be in the main line, and 2600 in branches — 
might be roughly placed at 23,000 knots; and the 
cost, including the branch to Hong Kong, between 
i!^ 5, 000,000 and iJ^6,ooo,ooo sterling. 

The principal objection formulated against the 
scheme at the time of its inception — among other 
difficulties raised on various grounds, and the vexa- 
tious conditions and restrictions imposed by the Home 
Government — was, that whereas an extensive and con- 
stantly increasing trade was likely to ensue with 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 347 

South Africa in the near future, no trade of great 
importance could reasonably be hoped for between 
Canada and Australia. 

In connection with the attitude taken by the 
Government, the Secretary of State for the Colonies 
pointed out that : — 

(i) Her Majesty's Government have never con- 
cealed their opinion that the constitution of a Pacific 
Cable is of greater importance to Australasia and 
Canada than to the United Kingdom, and that they 
would not have been disposed to recommend Parlia- 
ment to aid it, but for their desire to afford the 
support and assistance of the Mother Country to her 
great self-governing colonies in a project, the success 
of which cannot fail to promote Imperial Unity. 

(2) That Her Majesty's Government consider the 
responsibility of constructing and working the cable 
should be borne by the Governments of Canada and 
Australasia, to whom any profits that may hereafter 
accrue from the undertaking would consequently fall. 

Upon the foregoing it was remarked that the 
cable would furnish an alternative route to the East, 
passing entirely through territory under British con- 
trol, while its other advantages, both strategical and 
commercial, were referred to by the supporters of the 
scheme. The injustice of the proposition that Canada 
and Australasia should be held responsible for raising 
the money to carry out the work was also insisted 
upon, and a hope expressed that the British Govern- 
ment might ultimately see their way " to yield to the 
wishes of Canada and the Australian Colonies with 
regard to the joint ownership and working of the 
cable." 

In point of fact the British Government did yield, 
and Great Britain and the Colonies interested will 
share the expenses and the profits in their due pro- 
portions. 



348 GENERAL 

We may now proceed briefly to estimate the ad- 
vantages to the civilised world, for which submarine 
telegraphy is mainly responsible. At the banquet 
given at the Imperial Institute on 20th July 1894, to 
celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Establish- 
ment of Submarine Telegraphy with the Far East, Lord 
Wolseley said : " I have often thought of the great 
difficulties that exist in the art of war now compared 
with the days of the great Duke of Wellington. 
Think of the immense difficulties under which he 
carried on his great campaigns. ... I have often, in 
reading of those campaigns, tried to calculate to 
myself what would have been the result of the great 
Napoleonic campaigns, had the present scientific 
means of locomotion existed in those days. Think, 
for example, what would have been the result of his 
great campaign in Russia if he had been in communi- 
cation with Paris by railways and the telegraph. . . . 
Perhaps it is not generally known that we were the 
first people who made use of telegraphy in war — in 
the Crimea. We also laid doAvn a line of submarine 
telegraph between Varna and the Crimea, and I 
believe that that was the first time that submarine 
telegraphs were made use of for the purposes of war." 

In proof of the strategic value of cables in the 
estimation of the Powers, the International Telegraph 
Conference, held at Paris in 1884, in considering the 
necessities of their protection in time of war, adopted 
a clause in Article XV. of the Convention, which was 
agreed to by about twenty Powers, to the effect that 
the stipulations of the treaty do not in any respect 
restrict the freedom of action of belligerents, — so that 
the cutting of the cables (with very doubtful prospects 
of compensation for the companies that might suffer) 
may be looked for in the event of future hostilities. 
It was stated not long since by one of the best known 
and most authentic of the French papers — though how 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 349 

such a fact concerning the prospective operations of the 
fieet should be given to the world it is difficult to con- 
ceive — that every ship in the French navy is supplied 
with secret orders which it is the duty of the com- 
manding officer to open and immediately act upon 
in time of Avar. Among the orders contained are 
" minute instructions as to the routes and exact posi- 
tions of the leading cables of the world, and also the 
necessary information as to the best means of de- 
stroying them." What the effects of cable interrup- 
tion would be in war time may be readily inferred 
when we endeavour to estimate the cable advantages 
lately and at present afforded in our relations with 
South Africa. Imagine the state of the public mind 
which any prolonged suspense as to the issues of our 
extensive operations would produce ! The fact is that 
we are so accustomed to keep pace with every move- 
ment of the forces engaged, — that the progress of 
every battle, the losses entailed, and the results 
achieved, are matters of such momentary and com- 
monplace availability, that we cease to marvel at or 
even to feel thankful for the mighty and m3^sterious 
means employed to this end. It will be remembered 
how, during the bombardment of Alexandria, the 
Eastern Telegraph Company's s.s. Ghiltern took on 
board the Alexandria end of one of the cables, and 
kept the Government and the people in immediate 
touch with the operations in progress. These illus- 
trations might easily be multiplied, for, from then till 
now, the growth of our Empire, and the campaigns 
resulting in its expansion, have been watched and 
endorsed " over the wire." An illustration of the 
economic value of the cable in war has often been 
cited in connection with the Indian Mutiny, when a 
single telegram sent through the first Atlantic cable is 
said to have saved the Government no less a sum than 
;^ 5 0,000. As showing, too, the possibilities of the sub- 



3 50 GENERAL 

marine telegraph as a war-averting factor, the late Hon. 
T. F. Bayard, at that time the American Ambassador 
to the Court of St. James, in his speech delivered at 
the anniversary banquet already referred to, gave an 
instance which cannot fail to impress the imagination. 
He said : " There was a war, and please God, it shall 
be the last war, between England and the United 
States, eighty years ago. A most unnecessary battle 
was fought, and blood was shed that all must regret, 
for the want of a submarine telegraph. The battle of 
New Orleans was fought in 1815, on 8th January, and 
peace had been declared in the month of December 
previous at Ghent, and yet there was no means of 
communicating the fact. There was an unnecessary 
battle. A gallant, able general, and his equally gallant 
associates, fell uselessly before those piles of cotton 
bales in New Orleans, and they fell because, in the 
providence of God, the light had not yet dawned on 
the brain of man that peace could be proclaimed to 
the end of the world. And this peace had been 
agreed on, but there was no means of carrying the 
glad tidings across the Atlantic." 

As a peace-promoting agent, then, the Submarine 
Telegraph must be regarded as incomparably great; 
while, on the other hand, the least abuse of the power 
it affords by those who have been called upon to 
undertake the exceptional responsibilities of Empire, 
and to lend a guiding hand in the destinies of the 
race, might precipitate the most disastrous results, and 
turn what has hitherto proved a blessing into an unquali- 
fied misfortune. Happily, our inherent qualities may 
be trusted to gain always the surer and higher ground 
of righteousness and self-restraint, enabling us to enjoy, 
with a due sense of appreciation, tliat greatest of the 
known forces, the use of which lias been so painfully 
and laboriously acquired. 

In the arts of peace the Submarine Telegraph has 



CABLE AND COLONIAL TELEGRAPHS 351 

been equally fruitful. Formerly the gains of inter- 
colonial and international commerce were to those 
whose means were sufficient to enable them to launch 
theii* argosies and wait. Enterprises entailing vast 
sums of money were embarked upon and entrusted 
more or less to the caprice of fortune. The winds and 
the tides were the sole trustees of the commercial 
adventurer, and to these he was subject for all that he 
aspired to. Without considerable capital he was im- 
potent to move in the marts of the world. It is 
otherwise to-day. The submarine telegraph has 
changed the very basis of mercantile methods, and 
men who, under the old system, ventured no farther 
than the mouth of the Thames, can fare forth into lands 
which were once little more to them than a name. 

And again, the purely social intercourse which we 
daily hold with our remote possessions, and the sense 
of security which the facility of that intercourse in- 
spires, has modified if not wholly eliminated the doubts 
and fears which the prospect of a long journey formerly 
engendered. The distances separating om- far-eastern 
dependencies from the Mother Country, and the long 
weary months which elapsed before tidings could be 
brought from one to the other, were facts which 
constantly acted against the desire for travel, and kept 
within doors the less venturesome among those Avho 
had ambitions beyond the seas. To-day, thousands of 
people undertake the most distant voyages with the 
knowledge and assurance that an hour at most is the 
distance in time which separates them from kith and 
kin. To whatever obscure town in whatever country 
business or pleasure may take them, the pulse of the 
world is at their disposal, and with the swiftness of 
thought they can put themselves into sympathetic 
comnuinication with whomsoever they will. 

The handsome souvenir, distributed to those who 
had the privilege of attending the commemoration 



352 



GENERAL 



proceedings at the Imperial Institute, gives a list of 
the telegrams of congratulation despatched on that 
occasion by the Prince of Wales, together with the 
time occupied in receiving replies. Among others, 



the following are recorded : — 





Time 


Time 


Time 


The Prince of Wales to : — 


sent. 


received. 


occupied. 






Viceroy of India 


11.46 P.M. 


11.58 P.M. 


12 min. 


Governor, N. S. Wales . 


11.48 „ 


12.17 ^-M. 


29 » 


„ S. Australia . 




12.15 » 


27 „ 


„ Victoria . 




12.19 „ 


31 ,> 


„ Tasmania 




12.10 „ 


22 „ 


„ N. Zealand . 




12.14 „ 


26 „ 


„ Queensland . 




12.9 „ 


21 „ 


„ W. Australia . 




12.12 „ 


24 ,, 


„ Hong Kong . 




12.8 „ 


20 „ 


„ Singapore 




12.5 „ 


17 „ 


„ Natal 


II. 51 „ 


11.57 P.M. 


6 „ 


High Commissioner, Cape 


11.50 „ 


12. II A.M. 


21 „ 


Governor-Gen., Canada . 


12.25 A.M. 


12.33 „ 


8 „ 



It will, of course, be understood that the lines were 
cleared to achieve these extraordinary results, but they 
represent little less than the normal time required to 
communicate in the ordinary way. Contrasting the 
times occupied in the transit of the traffic when the 
lines were first opened with those of the present day, 
we find astounding differences. Five hours Avas 
formerly the average time for a cablegram to reach 
India; to-day it is 35 minutes. Australia was com- 
municated witli in 10 hours; to-day a little over IJ 
hours is considered the normal. It is, therefore, no 
idle phrase when we speak of the practical annihilation 
of time and space, and notliing perhaps has dt)ne so 
much to bring about the union of liearts througbout the 
.scattered dominions of this our mighty Empire than 
those girdles of steel which compass the ends of the 
earth. 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 353 

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 
By C. H. REYNOLDS, CLE. 

{Late Director-General of Telegraphs in India) 

Among the various branches of the public service 
which have grown up in India under British rule, 
the Telegraph Department may fairly claim an honour- 
able place, both on account of the services it has 
rendered to the civil and military administration of 
the country, and the benefits it has conferred on 
the people of India in their social and commercial 
relations. 

The existence of the telegraph in India synchro- 
nises almost exactly with the second half of the 
nineteenth century, and, during these fifty eventual 
years, the wires have been steadily spreading over the 
land, from the snow-covered mountains of Kashmir 
in the north to the cocoa-nut groves of Madras and 
Malabar in the south, and from the barren hills of 
Baluchistan on the west to the jungles and swamps 
of Assam, Burma, and Tenasserim on the cast. The 
pioneers, not merely of the railways but in many parts 
of the roads also, the wires, wherever they have pene- 
trated, bear witness to the far-reaching power of the 
great Sircar, and are a visible pledge of security and 
protection to even the remotest districts through which 
they pass. In 1 8 5 i the first telegraph line in India 
was opened between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour, 
a distance of thirty miles; in April 1899 there were 
over 160,000 miles of wire working, and 4699 tele- 
graph offices. The closing year of the century appears, 
therefore, to be a fitting time to tell something of the 
story of the growth of the telegraph system in India 
from its birth to its present large proportions, and to 
make easily accessible much information regarding it, 
V z 



3 54 GENERAL 

hitherto to a great extent buried in official reports. 
This paper does not deal with the history of the tele- 
graphic connections of India with the west and with 
the world generally, as this is a subject deserving of a 
place to itself, but it will be confined to a brief account 
of the internal telegraphs of the British Empire in 
India. 

The father of the electric telegraph in India was 
the late Sir William B. O'Shaughnessy Brooke, F.R.S., 
a member of the Bengal medical establishment of 
the Honourable East Indian Company's Service, who 
landed in India in December 1833, So long ago as 
1839, we find Dr. O'Shaughnessy, as he was then 
known, a professor of chemistry in the Medical College 
at Calcutta, occupying all his leisure in telegraphic 
experiments, and in April and May of this year he 
erected in the vicinity of Calcutta, quoting his own 
words, " the first long line of telegraph ever con- 
structed in any country. The line was twenty-one 
miles in length, embracing 7000 feet of river cu-cuit. 
The experiments performed on this line removed all 
reasonable doubts regarding the practicability of work- 
ing electric telegraphs through enormous distances, a 
question then and for three years later disputed by 
high authority and regarded generally with contemp- 
tuous scepticism." 

These experiments are described by Dr. O'Shaugh- 
nessy in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 
for September 1839, and in a series of lectures delivered 
by him shortly afterwards and published in 1841. 
The surroundings of an Indian official are not favour- 
able to original research. Cut off from direct inter- 
course with the scientific world of Europe, engaged in 
public duties which leave him scanty leisure, working 
in an exhausting tropical climate, which renders periods 
of rest, relaxation, and daily exercise absolutely neces- 
sary for healtli, it is only \.o bo expected that in modern 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 355 

scientific advance India should follow rather than lead 
the progress achieved in more favoured countries. Dr. 
O'Shaughnessy's researches in telegraphy in 1839 were, 
however, a good deal more than up to date, and it is 
to his ability, energy, and public spirit, exercised under 
great disadvantages, that India can claim among the 
nations of the world to have been one of the pioneers 
of telegraphy. 

In Dr. O'Shaughnessy's experiments he not only 
communicated through twenty-one miles of iron wire, 
and proved that with similar copper Avire, which was 
beyond his means to employ, he coidd have communi- 
cated through seven times that distance, but he also 
showed that the chcuit could be completed without 
a return wire, if a river or canal was available, and 
that under any circumstances the retui-n wire need 
not be insulated. He thus, at this early date, fore- 
shadowed the use of earth as a return, and the neces- 
sity for only one wire as a means of connnunication ; 
he also recognised that by increasing his battery power, 
or increasing the diameter of his wire, or by making 
his receiving instrument more sensitive, he could in- 
crease the distance through wdiich direct working 
would be possible to an unknown extent. The 
experiments were characterised by great originality, 
boldness of design and indomitable perseverance, 
qualities Avhich later on Dr. O'Shaughnessy found 
ample scope for in tlie initiation and development 
of telegraphy over long distances in India. 

Successful as had been Dr. O'Shaughnessy's first ex- 
periments, they were at the time far in advance of the 
views of the Board of the East India Company and of 
the authorities in India as to the actual requirements 
of the country, and it was not till i 849, by which time 
telegraphy had made considerable advances in Europe, 
that we find any move made in the development of 
telegraphy in India. On the 26th September in that 



3 56 GENERAL 

year, the Court of Directors addressed the Government 
of India on the subject, and after referring to Dr. 
O'Shaughnessy's experiments in 1839, stated that 
" while the establishment of communication by means 
of the electric telegraph would be highly advantageous 
to the state and the commvmity, many serious con- 
siderations were involved," and they finally asked the 
opinion of the Government of India on the expediency 
of establishing a system of electric telegraphs indepen- 
dent of any that might be made with the construction 
of each railroad. In 1850, Colonel Forbes of the 
Royal Engineers and Dr. O'Shaughnessy submitted 
reports to Government on these points, with the result 
that preliminary sanction was accorded to an experi- 
mental line, half subterranean and half overground, 
thirty miles in length. This work was undertaken at 
the commencement of 185 i, and on the 30th March 
1852, Dr. O'Shaughnessy submitted a full report to 
Government on the progress made, showing that by 
that date he had opened for public business eighty-two 
miles of line and six offices between Calcutta and 
Kedgeree, including the cabling of the Huldi and 
iiughli rivers, the latter being 6200 feet wide. The 
first four tiffices on this line between Calcutta and 
Diamond Harbour were opened on the 4tli October 
1851 ; the shipping reports were then experimentally 
sent by electric telegraph, and on the 5tli December 
1851, the old semaphore signalling service on this 
route was finally abolished in favour of its youthful 
rival. On the 3rd February 1852, the extension from 
Diamond Harbcmr to Kedgeree was opened, thus placing 
an important but very isolated place of call for ships 
at the mouth of the Hughli in direct communication 
witli Calcutta. 

Although this, the first telegraph line in India, was 
not of any great length, it deserves something more 
than a passing notice, as its construction involved 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 357 

peculiar difficulties owing to the nature of the country 
traversed. Moreover, it was the first telegraph line 
erected in any tropical country, and the methods 
adopted have, consequently, a certain historical interest. 
The low-lying delta of the Ganges is exposed to violent 
thunder-storms with squalls, commonly known as Nor'- 
Westers, and to periodical cyclones of terrific force ; 
the rainfall is considerable, with the result that the 
country is to a great extent under water during the 
south-west monsoon, while in the cold weather heavy 
dews and fogs prevail during the night and early 
mornings, a condition very inimical to good insula- 
tion of telegraph wires. Moreover, the river Hughli is 
not only a broad and rapid stream with ever-shifting 
bottom, but is the thoroughfare of navigation to the 
port of Calcutta, and telegraph cables in it were, 
especially before the days of steam, peculiarly liable to 
damage from the anchors of ships and small craft, the 
danger of the navigation often rendering the dragging 
of anchors by ships a necessity. 

With these difficulties to face, Dr. O'Shaughnessy 
had little in European practice to guide him in the 
selection of materials. Instead of the comparatively 
light wire used in Europe, he considered it necessary, 
in order to secure both strength and conductivity, to 
use for his land lines wire rods three-eighths of an 
inch in diameter welded together. The subterranean 
portion consisted of these rods buried in a cement of 
melted rosin and sand, while on the overhead sections 
similar rods were carried on wooden poles, a large pro- 
portion being bamboos, and it will give some idea of 
the difficulty of construction, that in parts of the line 
the weldiny had to be done from canoes. No insula- 
tors were used. The river cables gave great trouble. 
Dr. O'Shaughnessy had some copper wire from England 
covered with a thin layer of gutta-percha ; but his task 
was to protect the slender insulated wire from the 



3 5 8 GENERAL 

effects of the tropical climate and from chemical and 
material injury when buried in the ground on the 
banks or sunk in the beds of the rivers to be crossed. 
In covering the gutta-percha with lead, with local and 
rough appliances, Dr. O'Shaughnessy, who was a skilful 
chemist as well as a telegraph engineer, hit upon a 
plan which is being more and more adopted at the 
present day to preserve the insulation of subterranean 
cables. Against mechanical injury Dr. O'Shaughnessy 
tried various forms of wire guards, but where the 
drao-Qfinsf anchors were a constant and imminent danger 
he advocated the plan of securing his insulated core 
in the angles of a heavy chain cable. His first two 
cables were strengthened in this way, though subse- 
quently Avire guards, at first bound on longitudinally 
and afterwards with the guards laid on spirally, were 
adopted. After trying all patterns of instruments in 
use in England and America, he discarded them as 
too elaborate, having found that a simple galvanometer 
coil, with a horizontal needle, delicately pivoted, and 
provided with a light pointer, gave him a most sensi- 
tive receiving instrument with which he could Avork in 
all weathers, and Avhich could be easily replaced, in case 
of damage by lightning, by the most inexperienced 
operator. Such was the first telegraph line in India — 
very rudimentary, no doubt, but wonderfully efficient. 
Dr. O'Shaughnessy thus describes one of the early im- 
portant messages sent along it. " The Battler, steam- 
frigate, bringing intelligence of the first operations of 
the war (Burma), had not passed the tlagstaft" at 
Kedgeree on the 19th April 1852, when the news 
of the storming and capture of Rangoon was placed 
in the hands of the Governor-General in Calcutta and 
posted on the gates of the telegraph office for the 
inforiuation of the public." 

The success of the line was so convincing that on 
the i4Lh of April 1852, Lord Dalhousie, in forwarding 



THK ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 359 

Dr. O'Shauglmessy's report to the Court of Directors, 
recommended that sanction should be accorded to 
the immediate construction of hnes from Calcutta to 
Peshawar, Calcutta to Bombay, and Calcutta to Madras. 
He further recommended that Dr. O'Shaughnessy should 
proceed to England to arrange for the necessary stores, 
and that he should be granted a bonus of Rs. 2 0,000. 
The following extract from the Governor-General's 
despatch indicates the value placed on Dr. O'Shaugh- 
nessy's services : " I believe I am doing no more than 
expressing the universal opinion of the community 
when I say that for them (the results obtained) the 
Government of India is indebted to the ability, the 
undaunted energy, the perseverance and skill of Dr. 
W. O'Shaughnessy. He has accomplished the whole 
unaided, within a comparatively short time, in the 
midst of other important duties and without any re- 
muneration whatever." 

Lord Dalhousie's prompt decision to extend the 
telegraph in India without delay had an importance 
that he little dreamt of at the moment. Had this 
extensive scheme been discussed in the usual leisurely 
official way, valuable years would have slipped by, and 
the telegraph service would not have been the orga- 
nised and efficient aid it proved to be when, in 1857, 
the Mutiny burst over the land. Nor were the Court 
of Directors wanting in equal promptness. Within a 
week of the receipt of Lord Dalhousie's eloquent and 
enthusiastic despatch, his proposals had received the 
sanction of the Court of Directors and the approval of 
the Board of Control. Well might Dr. O'Shaughnessy 
put on record that " such rapidity in the despatch of an 
important measure is perhaps without a parallel in any 
department of Government." 

On the 20th of June 1852, Dr. O'Shaughnessy 
reported his arrival in London, and he was at once 
busily engaged in submitting his detailed proposals to 



36o GENERAL 

the Court of Directors, arranging for the stores for 
over three thousand miles of hne, training enhsted 
artificers in telegraph construction at Warley, inspecting 
home and foreign telegraph lines, making a collection of 
patterns of all telegraph instruments in use, and pre- 
paring a manual of instructions in the erection and 
working of telegraphs. The Government of India was 
meanwhile arranging the routes to be followed, in con- 
sultation with the local Governments concerned ; and 
on the 7th May 1853, Lord Dalhousie recorded a 
valuable minute detailing the decisions that had been 
arrived at for a first instalment of about 3500 miles 
of telegraph, connecting Calcutta with Peshawar vid 
Agra, with Bombay vid Agra and Indore, and connect- 
ing Bombay and Madras vid the Deccan, Bellary, and 
Bangalore. The direct connection between Calcutta 
and Madras was postponed ; but Lord Dalhousie indi- 
cated the desirability of an early extension from Cal- 
cutta to Burma, and also an extension that would 
include Nagpur and Hyderabad (Deccan). 

Dr. O'Shaughnessy returned to India in July 1853, 
and set to Avork at once on this extensive programme, 
and in the organisation of the department of which he 
had been appointed the head. Soine idea of the mag- 
nitude of his task may be formed by a consideration 
of the facts that Peshawar, one only of the points to 
be reached, was nearly sixteen hundred miles from its 
sea-base, Calcutta ; that there were no railways ; that 
moans of transport and communication were slow and 
primitive ; that the wires had to be carried across, 
either under or over, numerous wide unbridged rivers, 
with ill-defined banks — rivers that often became tor- 
rents in the rainy season, or when the snows were 
molting on the Himalayas; that unhealtliy jungles 
had f,() be traversed in places; and, finally, that the 
w(jrk was of an entirely new nature to the stafit" em- 
ployed. Construction commenced in the autumn of 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 361 

1853, ^^^^ I'y the 24th of March 1854 connection had 
been estabUshed with Agra, a distance of eight hundred 
miles. On the 27th November the Bombay Govern- 
ment reported that communication with Calcutta had 
been completed. The lines from Agra to Peshawar 
and from Bombay to Madras were finished somewhat 
later, and by the i st February 1855 the system was 
sufficiently established to adndt of the wires being 
thrown open to the use of the public. 

Space would not admit of anything like a detailed 
account in this article of the lines constructed, the 
methods adopted, and the difficulties overcome. Dr. 
O'Shaughnessy mentions twenty-four rivers that had to 
be crossed by massive cables, to a great extent made 
up with the roughest appliances on the banks ; forty 
rivers had also to be crossed by spans, posts of iron- 
wood from Arakan, of toddy-palm, sal, teak, black- 
wood and fir, granite and sandstone obelisks and 
masonry pillars had all to be employed according to 
the locality. A heavy iron wire, weighing from 1000 
to 1200 lbs. a mile, was principally used, with brackets 
and insulators of various kinds then in vogfue. Weather 
decay, white ants, and lightning soon proved destruc- 
tive agencies that gradually compelled the use of iron, 
first as a base, some years afterwards as half, three- 
quarter, and whole posts, and at the present day, 
except in the case of a small proportion of posts of 
specially durable timber, iron is exclusively used, either 
in the form of tubular posts or rails, for all important 
telegraph construction in India. Among the officers 
specially mentioned by Dr. O'Shaughnessy as having 
had their share as pioneers of telegraph construction in 
India are Lieutenants P. Stewart and A. Chauucey, Dr. 
Green, Messrs. Brunton, O'Donnell, Todhunter, and 
Wickham, A native gentleman of Bengal, Babu Shib 
Chunder Nundy, Avas Dr. OShaughnessy's earliest as- 
sistant, having joined the department at its origin. He 



362 GENERAL 

carried out many useful experiments, besides construc- 
tion work, in 1850-51, and was favourably reported 
on to Government. Later on he was employed on 
important works of construction, and by his energy 
and pluck set an excellent example to his fellow- 
countrymen. He still enjoys a well-earned pension, 
and has been created a Rai Bahadur by Government 
in recognition of his long and exemplary services, goi^ 

In December 1854, the Government of India passed 
Act XXXIV. for regulating the establishment and 
management of electric telegraph lines in India ; and, 
as stated above, the telegraph was thrown open to the 
public on the ist February 1855. A tariff of one rupee 
for sixteen words per zone of four hundred miles was 
fixed, and the Telegraph Department of India was 
thus fairly launched. In February 1856, Lord Dal- 
housie minuted at length on the result of the first 
year's working. He states that nearly four thousand 
miles of line had been completed, at an average cost of 
about Rs.500 per mile, that the receipts, Rs.202,789, 
were steadily increasing, and already amounted to two- 
thirds of the estimated working expenses, that the 
Government and people of India had profited largely 
by Dr. W. O'Shaughnossy's services, and that it had 
been his pleasing duty to recommend that officer " for 
higher honours than any praise of him which the East 
India Company can inscribe upon its records or any 
other reward that it can bestow on him from its 
coffers." Shortly afterwards Dr. O'Shaughnessy, who 
proceeded to England in March 1856, was created a 
Kniglit Bachelor by her Majesty, a fitting recognition 
of the work, now crowned with acknowledged success, 
begun by him seventeen years before in his experiments 
in the Botanical Gardens at Calcutta. 

Sir W. O'Shaughnessy Avas in England from March 
I 8 56 to December 1857, Lieut. Patrick Stewart, R.E., 
acting fur him in India as Superintendent of the 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 363 

Department. During his absence nearly one thousand 
miles of new line were constructed, revenue was increas- 
ing, and progress generally is described as satisfactory 
in every respect. In May 1857, the Sepoy Mutiny 
broke out, peaceful expansion was stopped, and the 
Department was called on to perform duties and face 
difficulties of a very different nature from any met 
with in its previous peaceful experience. 

The services rendered by the electric telegraph in 
the suppression of the Mutiny have been borne witness 
to by the highest civil and military authorities. And 
while space forbids any lengthened account here of 
the various operations undertaken, the history of the 
Department wovdd be incomplete without a brief record 
of some of the main events of the time, in which the 
telegraph played an important part. 

On Sunday afternoon, the i oth of May 1857, the 
mutineers at Meerut, having first interrupted tele- 
graphic comnumication with Delhi, broke into re- 
bellion. Mr. C. Todd, the Telegraph Master at Delhi, 
met his death early on the morning of the i ith, at 
the hands of the first arrivals from Meerut, on the 
bridge of boats over the river Jumna, when testing the 
line to ascertain where the fault was between Delhi 
and Meerut. The remaininc: staff' of the Delhi tele- 
graph office consisted of two European lads, Pilkington 
and Brendish, the only persons in the whole city and 
cantonments who could use the telegraph. Throughout 
the morning the city was in confusion, the mutineers 
had arrived, bun<ralows were burning', firing Avas going 
on continuously, many Europeans, including the Com- 
missioner, had been murdered, the arsenal was being 
besieged, the native regiments had refused to act 
against the nuitineers, and all order was at an end. 
Fortunately the telegraph office was some little distance 
outside the walls, but the two signallers were informed 
of what was going on by fugitives from the city, and 



364 GENERAL 

they were warned to hide by native shopkeepers and 
others, who told them that even they were being 
murdered and pillaged, and there was no chance for 
Europeans. The signallers, however, stuck to their 
post of duty, and reported to Umballa the substance 
of what they had heard. These informal reports took 
shape in two somewhat incoherent messages, on which 
the military authorities acted. The first telegram, as 
given in a letter from General Anson, the Commander- 
in-Chief, to Lord Canning ran thus : " We must leave 
office. All the bungalows are on fire — burning down 
by the sepoys of Meerut. They came in this morning. 
We are oflP. Mr. C. Todd is dead, I think. He went 
out this morning and has not yet returned. We 
learnt that nine Europeans are killed." This was 
received at 3 p.m., a subsequent somewhat more ex- 
plicit telegram followed an hour later, and both were 
despatched by the General Commanding at Umballa 
to the Connnander-in-Chief at Simla, by the hands of 
his son Lieut. Barnard, and by wke to the authorities 
at Lahore, Rawal Pindi, and Peshawar. 

As the afternoon advanced and the danger of 
remaining momentarily increased, the signallers, ac- 
companied by Mrs. Todd, who still hoped for her 
husband's return, took refuge at the Flagstaff Tower, 
where many fugitives from the city and cantonments 
were congregating. From this place Pilkington is 
reported to have been sent back to the office with 
a guard by a military officer with a telegram which 
he despatched, probably the second message referred 
to above. The signallers escaped during the night, 
and eventually reached Umballa safely, where they 
had been given up for lost. Very shortly after they 
had quitted the office it was burned by the mutineers 
or rabble. 

Referring to the message quoted above, Sir Herbert 
Edwardes, Commissioner of Peshawar at the time, 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH TN INDIA 365 

thus describes its result : " When the message 
reached Lahore, it enabled Mr. Montgomery and the 
General to disarm the native troops before they had 
received one word of intelligence on the subject. 
The same message was flashed from Lahore to Pesha- 
war, and we took our measures there in the same 
way ; and before any of the mutineers and Hindustani 
regunents had the opportunity of laying their })lans, 
we had taken all ours, and were able to defeat them 
when the hour of difiiculty arose. I do not hesitate 
to add that the message Avas the means of salvation 
of th'e Punjab." Sir W. O'Shaughnessy thus describes 
the matter in his official report : " Mr. Charles Todd, 
the assistant in charge at Delhi, had fallen in the 
general massacre, but not until his office had signalled 
to the Punjab the terrible events at Meerut and the 
march of the mutineers on Dchli. The value of that 
last service of the Delhi office is best described in 
the words of the Judicial Commissioner, Mr. Mont- 
gomery — 'The Electric Telegraph has saved India.'" 

The services of the two signallers were duly 
rewarded by Government. Pilkington died many 
years ago, but Brcndish only recently retired from 
the telegraph service, a full instead of a half pay 
pension having been granted him as a final recog- 
nition of his Avork at Delhi on the terrible day of 
the massacre. A granite obelisk, subscribed for by 
the members of the Telegraph Department in 1899, 
is about to be erected, with the approval of Govern- 
ment, in front of the present telegraph office at Delhi 
in commemoration of the events above described. 

Delhi, as is well known, Avas besieged and taken 
by troops from the Punjab, from which province every 
available fighting man Avas sent by Sir John Lawrence. 
It Avould be superfluous to attempt to describe the 
value of the telegraph on the long road of six 
hundred miles between PeshaAvar and Delhi, Avhen 



Z66 GENERAL 

every nerve was being strained to send down troops, 
guns, and stores for the siege. Much of the country 
was far from safe, but the telegraph from Delhi north- 
ward was kept constantly open. Sir W. OShaughnessy 
thus reports on this point : " As, by the gallant and 
indefatigable services of Mr. Inspector Brown, the line 
from Delhi to the Punjab was kept open during the 
whole time of the siege of Delhi, the lines and inter- 
mediate offices rendered inestimable service to the 
Government of India and to the highest interests of 
the whole Empire." 

To the south of Meerut, however, the maintenance 
of the telegraph service at once became an impossi- 
bility. Before May was over the line from Agra to 
Meerut had been destroyed, early in June Agra was 
cut off from Calcutta, and on the 1 4th of June com- 
munication with Indore and Bombay was also severed. 
It would be tedious to enumerate all the events that 
followed. Hundreds of miles of telegraph lines were 
destroyed between Agra and Indore and between Agra 
and Benares ; the staff at Cawnpore, consisting of live 
members, were all cruelly nmrdered ; and a similar fate 
befell the staff of four at Indore with their fandlies. 
But while the work of destruction went on apace, the 
work of restoration never slackened, whenever the state 
of the country permitted. It was of vital importance 
that telegraphic communication between Bengal, the 
North- West Provinces, and the Punjab should be 
restored as soon as possible, and Sir W. O'Shaughnessy 
reports that this was accomplished "with extraordinary 
rapidity and determination, by Captain P. Stewart, Mr. 
Harrington and others by the 29th of January 1858," 
the throut^h service on this main route havinir thus 
been suspended for about eight months. Similar work 
of restoration of lines and maintenance of connnunica- 
tion, often carried out under circumstances of great 
danger, Avent on according to tlio varying fort.unos of 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 367 

the campaign in the native states of Central India, and 
in parts of Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and 
Oudh ; but it must suffice to quote here the following 
extract on operations in Oudh. Sir W. O'Shaughnessy 
writes : " By far the most interesting occurrence in 
the story of the restoration of our lines is found in the 
dashing exploit of Captain Stewart, Mr. Harrington, 
Mr. M'Intyre, and Mr. Devin in running up a Hying 
line from Cawnpore to Lucknow in the last advance of 
the Commander-in-Chief on that city. The cool intre- 
pidity and ready resources displayed by Captain 
Stewart on this occasion gained for him the hearty 
applause of the whole army. His report is one of the 
best proofs yet given of the value of the (telegraph) 
Department in military operations as well as in its 
political and civil bearings." 

The Mutiny having clearly proved the value of 
the telegraph in India, the system was rapidly ex- 
tended, and within the next three years lines were 
constructed down the whole length of the east and 
west coasts of the peninsula. Rangoon Avas con- 
nected with Calcutta via Arakan and Dacca, lines 
were erected from the extreme north to the south 
of the Island of Ceylon, Karachi was connected with 
Bombay and Lahore, and extensions were made to 
most large towns of political or military importance 
alonsr the main routes of travel. The main arteries 
having been thus completed, there, of course, still 
remained, as there still remain even to the present 
day, after forty years of ceaseless progress, immense 
tracts of country to be opened up to telegraphic 
communication, to keep pace with the development 
of the country and the extension of the frontiers of 
the Empire. 

Among the notable events of the period was the 
laying of a gutta-percha insulated cable about twenty- 
five miles in length across Palk's Straits between India 



368 GENERAL 

and Ceylon in September 1858. Sir W. O'Shaughnessy 
thus describes the operation : " I have also to advert 
to the masterly feat Mr. Wickham has performed in 
placing the telegraph cable across the Gulf of Manaar 
in a native sailing vessel, and during bad weather. 
The operation was as difficult, the line as long, and 
the navigation at least as dangerous as that of placing 
the cable across the Straits of Dover, for which a 
squadron of steamers and costly machinery was 
employed. Mr. Wickham performed his task under 
sail, and with no other apparatus than the rude 
windlass of a native vessel." The cable thus laid 
with such slender appliances did excellent service for 
many years, carrying all the traffic between Ceylon 
and the rest of the world. 

An important measure, due to the foresight of 
Sir W. O'Shaughnessy, and one which gave a great 
impetus to telegraphy in India, was the early intro- 
duction of the Morse, or American, system of signalling. 
In 1854-55, Sir W. O'Shaughnessy had made up his 
mind on the " immeasurable superiority " of this 
system over other more elaborate methods which had 
to some extent secured the field in England and on 
the Continent. In 1856, he was sent to England to 
arrange for its introduction. Seventy-four officers were 
instructed in London in the use of the instrument, and 
sent to India in the following two years. They at once 
took a prominent position in the Department, several 
arrived in time to do good service during the Mutiny, 
and in after years many of them rose to the highest 
appointments in the service. The Morse instruments 
were rapidly introduced, and, as in America, the 
indented tape on which the messages were first read 
was soon discarded, in the interests of speed, accuracy, 
and economy, for reading by sound. In 1859, receiv- 
ing by ear f)nly bad made great progress, and in i860, 
Sir W. O'Shaughnessy reported that the system of ear 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 369 

reading w.as general. It made but little progress in 
Europe for many years, and India may claim second 
honours with America in adopting the simple and 
now so widely-used instrument known as the Morse 
sounder. The operators in India have for many 
years justly prided themselves on their proficiency in 
the art of reading by ear, and many natives, to whom 
English is a foreign language, have attained almost 
equal facility with their European and Eurasian 
colleagues. 

Sir W, O'Shaughncssy left India in bad health 
in June i860, and shortly afterwards retired from the 
service. In closing this brief account of the early 
history of the telegraph in India, the following extract 
from his last report to Government, dated 17 th May 
i860, will be. read with sympathetic interest. Refer- 
ring to the progress and development of the telegraph, 
and to the great future before it in India, he writes : 
" We have at our disposal at a moderate cost an in- 
strument of such mu-aculous power, that by a single 
message it has already saved our Indian Empire, 
while day by day, and hour by hour, it is busy in the 
promotion of commerce and the furtherance of public 
interests of every kind. In my extended tours over 
all parts of India I have seldom met a family who 
had not some anecdote to tell of the services the 
telegraph had done them. There are few Europeans 
in India Avho have not experienced a thrill of pleasure 
when they met our masts and wires on the margin of 
every road, and know that these true tokens of science 
and civilisation and power traverse our Indian Empire 
to its uttermost limits. Should I see them no more, 
I can truly say that I shall ever continue to take the 
most heartfelt interest in the prosperity and improve- 
ment of the Department, and feel proud and happy 
that it has been my lot to bring it even to its present 
imperfect state." 

V 2 A 



& 



370 GENERAL 

In dealing with, the first ten years of Indian tele- 
graphy, the subject has necessarily been treated at 
some length. Telegraphy was in its infancy as a 
science even in Europe and America, while telegraphy 
in the tropics was unborn. India itself was unopened 
by railways, scarcely touched by Western civilisation, 
and the interior of the country was but little known. 
The task undertaken by Lord Dalhousie and carried 
out by Sir W. O'Shaughnessy and his co-operators, to 
carry the telegraph in the early fifties through the 
length and breadth of the immense territories of the 
East India Company, was therefore one which has 
had no parallel elsewhere, and the manner in which 
that task was completed forms a brilliant chapter in 
the annals of our Indian Empire worthy of being 
better known. 

The history of the telegraph during the forty years 
that have passed since Sir W. O'Shaughnessy left 
India, though one of uninterrupted progress, of hard 
devoted work, administrative and executive, and of 
many interesting episodes, would be too long to be 
treated with the same detail, and naturally possesses 
less general interest. 

Year by year the lines Avere extended into new 
districts. With every extension of our frontier the 
telegraph, first as a military line, then as a permanent 
institution, quietly took possession of the new territory ; 
railways and canals required wires for their operations ; 
the tariff's had to be adjusted from time to time ; the 
staff reorganised and maintained in a state of efficiency. 
India had to take her place in the councils of the 
telegraphic world as represented at the conferences 
of the International Telegraphic Union ; the ever- 
growing traffic called for the latest types of instru- 
ments and methods of working to enhance the 
carrying power of the wires: and the general de- 
velopment of iIk; country called for measures for the 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 371 

extension of telegrapliic facilities, without burden to the 
Imperial revenue, not only to the outlying quarters of 
large towns, but to small towns and villages, at a cost 
commensurate with the traffic expected from these 
lesser important localities. Problems such as these 
have occupied the attention of the several Directors- 
General who have succeeded Sir W. O'Shaughnessy, 
and some brief description of them is necessary to 
complete this sketch of the telegraph in India. 

The progress of the Department received a great 
impetus under the vigorous administration of the late 
Major-General D. G. Robinson, R.E., who held the 
appointment of Director-General for the long period of 
twelve years — 1865-77, ^^ 1865 this officer, recognis- 
ing that a contented, efficient staff was necessary to 
provide an efficient telegraph service, thoroughly re- 
organised the whole establishment, both superior and 
subordinate. Salaries were increased, promotion regu- 
lated, the signalling staff obtained many privileges, and 
by the division of the signallers into grades, paid accord- 
ing to qualifications, a great incentive was given to 
self- improvement by private study, resulting in a more 
intelligent performance of their duties. To encourage 
the signalling staff still further, two instructors were 
sent out from England in 1868, to travel from office to 
office in order to give lectures on telegraphy and to 
personally instruct the men in tlie scientific branch 
of their duties. One of these instructors, Mr. Louis 
Schwendler, loft a lasting mark on the Department. 
Not only did he prove himself a most enthusiastic and 
inspiriting teacher, but he attained considerable emin- 
ence in the scientific world in Europe as one of the 
most advanced authorities on telegraphy. His early 
death, after giving fifteen years of his life to India, 
evoked widespread regret. 

Another important administrative measure given 
effect to by Colonel Robinson, as his rank then was, 



372 GENERAL 

was tlie engagement and despatch to India, between 
I 868 and 1 871, of seventy-two officers for the superior 
service of the Department. These officers were carefully 
selected by examination, and afterwards trained in prac- 
tical telegraphy, mainly by the present well-known and 
eminent engineer and electrician, Sir W. Preece, F.R.S., 
who has ever since not only taken the greatest interest 
in, but has rendered very valuable service to, the cause 
of telegraphy in India. Several of the older officers of 
the Department were also enabled by Colonel Robinson 
to visit England and bring their knowledge up to date 
under similar favourable conditions. Of late years the 
superior staff has been mainly recruited from the Royal 
Engineering College at Cooper's Hill, and, in addition, 
appointments in the provincial service of the Depart- 
ment are conferred on alumni of the Thomason En- 
gineering College at Rurki, and on deserving officers 
who have risen from the subordinate ranks. 

Colonel Robinson also directed much attention to 
the welding of the various telegraph systems that had 
grown up, under licences from Government, along the 
Indian railways into one harmonious whole with the 
Imperial system ; thus securing to the public the great 
advantages of uniformity of charges and procedure, 
and the free interchange of traffic. 

He also made many changes and experiments in 
the internal tariff, which was gradually made uniform 
for the whole country, but it was not till 1882 that 
the present excellent tariff was established by Colonel 
R. Murray, then Director-General. Under this tariff, 
which was mainly devised by Mr. J. H. Lane, Director 
of Traffic, messages are divided into three classes, 
urf/ent, ordinar//, and deferred, at charges well suited to 
the Indian currency. The charges vary with the speed, 
and tl)us meet the differing wants of the community in 
a country so vast as India, where the unavoidably long 
postal times of transit of letters afford a useful firld for 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 373 

slow but cheap telegraph messages, as an intermediary 
between the ordinary telegram and tlie post. A feature 
of Indian telegraphy is the free address, a great boon 
to the natives, especially of the poorer classes, whose 
names and residences are often obscure, and whose 
telegrams would run great risk of non-delivery unless 
a full address were given. In practice, the free and 
often very long address brings down the tariff per word 
to as cheap a level as obtains in the comparatively 
small countries of Europe, and though the concession 
of free address is opposed to the ordinary canons of 
telegraphy, the circumstances of the natives fully jus- 
tify the Government in its wise and liberal policy in 
this matter. Considering the size of our Indian Em- 
pire, the uniform internal telegraph tariff, with free 
address, compares favourably in cheapness with the 
tariffs of any country in the world. 

After an abortive and costly attempt in 1859 ^^ 
connect Great Britain and India by means of a cable 
through the Red Sea, India first joined hands with the 
Western world in international telegraphy very early in 
iS6s,,vid Karachi and the Persian Gulf. On the 26th 
March 1870 the cable between Bombay and Suez was 
thrown open to the Indian public, and on the 4th 
January 1 8 7 1 an eastward connection was made by the 
cable from Madras to Penang. A land line connection 
through most difficult country was established between 
Maulmain and Siam on the i8tli May 1885, and 
another land connection with China vid Bhamo in 
March 1895. In 1868, India was first formally re- 
presented at the International Telegraphic Conference 
at Vienna, and she has taken an important part at all 
subsequent conferences in matters connected with 
extra-European telegraphy. At St. Petersburgh, in 
1876, India was represented by Colonel Robinson, and 
largely through his efforts the tariff in extra-European 
telegraphy, which is necessarily costly, was fixed by 



374 GENERAL 

ivord instead of hij groiqj as hitherto. This regulation, 
coupled with the use of code words, w^hich may stand 
for long sentences, and the registration of abbreviated 
code addresses, has materially cheapened telegraphy, 
but the tariff of four shillings a word between England 
and India, unchanged since 1886, presses very heavily 
on small traders and private individuals, and there is 
a strong feeling in India that a cheaper tariff should 
be fairly tried. At the International Conference of 
Buda-Pest in 1895, the Government of India made 
an earnest effort to secure this boon for India, but the 
private companies interested, in view of the stationary 
nature of the traffic, declined to face the risk. No 
reduction has yet been possible, but with the example 
of what a cheap tariff has done between Europe and 
Australia, it is to be hoped that some reductions may 
soon be found possible without any serious call on the 
revenues of India in the shape of guarantees, to be 
paid almost entirely in the interests of the wealthier 
classes, and of only a remote and indirect value to the 
great mass of the Indian people. 

A very important and far-reaching measure, which 
has proved fruitful of good to the community at large, 
and which, at the same time, has been very beneficial 
to the postal and telegraph departments, was inaugu- 
rated in 1883 under the orders of the Directors- 
General of the two departments respectively, Mr. (now 
Sir) Frederick Hogg, and Mr. (now Sir) A. Leppoc 
Cappel. Tlie organisation of the two departments is 
quite distinct, and each has an unlimited field for 
expansion in its own special work, while amalgama- 
ti(m presents many fundamental difficulties. The 
Telegraph Department has been to a great extent de- 
signed to carry out the engineering and scientific work 
of construction and maintenance, not only for the 
system it works itself, but also for railways and canals, 
and for the defence and military operations of the 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 375 

country ; it has also to deal with the whole of the 
through traffic, both foreign and inland, a great pro- 
portion of Avhich has to be despatched with rapidity 
and accuracy across the breadth and length of the 
country, involving special arrangements and delicate 
instruments for long-distance telegraphy and fast work. 
For these duties, it is necessary that the operating 
staff should be highly qualified, and available for 
transfer to any part of the country where their services 
may be required. A higher scale of remuneration is 
therefore paid than would be necessary for operators 
working only at the simplest instruments in small 
offices on short branch and local circuits as feeders to 
the important offices on the trunk lines. For these 
feeder offices, the cheap native agency of the Postal 
Department has been utilised, thus enabling the tele- 
graph to be extended economically, to the great con- 
venience of the residents, into localities which would 
otherwise have been deprived of telegraphic facilities. 
The Telegraph Department provides lines and instru- 
ments, and instructs the postal stafi" in telegraphy ; 
the Postal Department manages the offices and their 
discipline, and furnishes the necessary accommodation. 
All expenses connected with the telegraph branch of 
each office is borne by the Telegraph Department, 
which is credited with the telegraph revenue, while 
the Postal Department is enabled to utilise all the 
spare time of the telegraph staff in ordinary postal 
work. The details of the scheme presented many 
difficulties, involving as they necessarily did a certain 
amount of divided responsibility and control, but 
owing to the admirable spirit in which the scheme 
was conceived and has since been worked by the 
officers of both departments, the result has been an 
unqualified success. On the 31st March 1899, no 
less than 1472 of these joint ofHces were open, which 
booked and despatched during the previous twelve 



376 GENERAL 

montlis 2,050,553 paid messages of the value of 
Rs.1,872,556. The Post Office of India bears a well- 
deserved reputation, and is second to none in the 
world in enterprise and progress. Though its tele- 
graph work forms an insignificant portion of its other 
immense and multifarious operations, the invalu- 
able help it has given to the spread of telegraphy 
among the people of India is deserving of the fullest 
recognition. 

In a country like India, garrisoned with a large 
European army and frequently engaged in warfare on 
its frontiers, military telegraphy has naturally taken a 
leading position. The Telegraph Department has to 
train annually, and keep in practice in its offices in 
actual work, a large number of British soldiers ready 
to be drafted into the field-telegraph offices on the 
outbreak of war. With the same object, squads of 
officers, British non-commissioned officers, and native 
Sappers of the Bengal, Bombay, and Madras Sappers 
and Miners, are constantly undergoing periods of 
training in the service of the Telegraph Department, 
and for this purpose the lines and offices in certain 
districts of the Punjab are allotted to the special 
charge of Royal Engineer officers. The Department 
is also charged with the construction and supervision 
of telegraphic and telephonic communications in con- 
nection with the defence of the frontiers and the ports 
of the country. It has to maintain, at suitable positions 
near the frontiers, large arsenals of field-telegraph 
material containing everything required for a campaign, 
ready for immediate issue on mobilization being 
ordered. 

At the outbreak of hostilities the Department has 
at once to send its staff of officers, signallers, civil and 
military, and native line staff to take up their duties 
under the orders of the General Officer Commanding, 
whilo at the same time it has to meet at the base 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA -^jy 

of operations, and at all the large military stations, a 
rush of traffic, which strains its resources to the utter- 
most. Every department of the army is in a hurry, 
troops are in motion from even the most distant 
stations, the civil officers and the commissariat are 
collecting animal transport, supplies, and native staff; 
officers and men have to be recalled from leave, 
garrisons rearranged, and everywhere the utmost 
activity prevails. As nearly all the orders are given 
by wire, the Telegraph Department, in addition to 
having its own mobilization arrangements to see to, 
has to work its staff' night and day to meet the calls 
on it caused by the rush of traffic. The frequent re- 
currence of these periods of strain has done much to 
raise the standard of efficiency of the Department and to 
maintain it in that state of preparedness, which has so 
often won the recognition of the Government and of 
the highest military authorities in India. Notwith- 
standing the hard work, military service is most 
popular with officers and subordinates of all grades, 
suitable military rank is conferred on all civilians 
employed in the field, the Government has been liberal 
in the scales of field and travelling allowances, the 
civil staff" are eligible for medals, and for death and 
wound gratuities. At the close of the campaign the 
distinction of a Companionship of the Order of the 
Indian Empire has several times been conferred on 
the principal telegraph officer employed, while the 
General Officers in the field, the Commander-in-Chief, 
and the Government of India have accorded generous 
and unstinting praise for the hard Avork done by all, 
and for the valuable aid the Department has rendered. 
Any record of the frontier work of the Telegraph De- 
partment would be Id complete without mention of the 
conspicuous services of Mr. W. Bignell, for a quarter of 
a century the chief administrative officer in the Punjab. 
All the arrangements connected with the military 



378 GENERAL 

work of the Department have been the outcome of much 
thought and practical experience, extending as far hack 
as the administration of Colonel Robinson, who first 
arranged for the training of soldiers in telegraphy, thus 
preparing them for use as signallers in time of war, 
while providing them with congenial and remunerative 
occupation in periods of peace — a welcome relief to 
the tedium of the long hot days in barracks. Field- 
Marshal Lord Roberts, when Commander-in-Chief in 
India, took great interest in this question, giving the 
Department every facility for its work, and his succes- 
sors have continued the same policy. In the design 
of telegraph line material, tents, instruments, and office 
fittings suited to the animal transport, rough usage, 
rugged, roadless country, and extremes of climate of 
an Indian frontier campaign, the names of Colonel 
H. A. Mallock, Director-General, 1 889-90, Messrs. P. V. 
Luke, CLE., C. E. Pitman, CLE., and H. A. Kirk, are 
deserving of special mention, as having brought sound 
practical experience to boar on a subject presenting 
many difficulties. 

Space does not permit of anything in the shape of 
a detailed account in this article of the actual work 
done by the Department in the various campaigns of 
recent years, to do justice to which a volume would be 
necessary. It must suffice to say that the telegraph 
has rendered valuable service in every campaign of any 
importance since the Mutiny, while in the Afghan war 
of 1878-80, the conquest and pacification of Upper 
Burmah, including the Chin-Lushai campaigns in 
1886-90, the Chitral Expedition in 1895, and the 
Tirah and North -West Frontier operations in 1897, 
the work done was of a specially important nature, not 
only in the conduct of the operations, but in meeting 
the requirements of the press and ministering to the 
]jrivatc wants of the army in the field. 

In every campaign the Telegraph Department, in 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 379 

carrying its wires and inaintaining its comniimications 
through the densest jungles, across malarious swamps, 
and over rugged mountains,^ has taken its full share 
with other branches of the service in the hardships 
and dangers of Indian warfare. It is also the proud 
boast of the Department that the wires have never 
lagged behind the advance, except where the zeal of 
its officers has had to be restrained by superior military 
considerations. In the larger campaigns the Depart- 
ment has had the assistance of the corps of Royal 
Engineers, and all branches of the army have been 
represented amongst the soldier signallers. Whether 
soldiers or civilians, Europeans or natives, all ranks 
have by their corn-age, loyalty, and endurance well- 
merited the thanks of Government that have been so 
often and so cordially expressed at the close of the 
various campaigns. 

On the I 3th of March 1893, Lord Roberts, when lay- 
ing down, after seven years tenure, the office of Com- 
mander-in-Chief in India, brought to the notice of the 
Government of India in the most public manner the 
" admirable work of the Telegraph Department for 
many years past," in connection with the instruction 
of the army in telegraphy, the telegraphic arrange- 
ments in connection with harbour defence, and the 
services the Department had already rendered in the 
field. At the time this gratifying testimony was 
received the Department was under the administration 
of Mr. (now Sir) W. R. Brooke. The Department has 
been fortunate in earning similar praise from Lord 
Roberts' successor, Sir George White, and from Sir 
William Lockhart, the late Commander-in-Chief. 

1 It is worthy of record in connection with mountain warfare, that 
in the Sikkim Expedition in iS88, the Department maintained a field 
telegraph oflice at Bhutong in Thibet, at a height of 13,500 feet above 
sea-level, from the 12th November to the 6th December ; no easj- task, 
considering the season and the conditions that had to be met, and one 
that has had few, if any, parallels. 



38o GENERAL 

In more peaceful fields, the Department has a wide 
scope for usefulness. In the organisation and distri- 
bution of famine relief it has, since the Bengal Famine 
of 1873-74, been able to afford valuable aid to the 
civil officers engaged in combatmg these terrible cala- 
mities. It has also conferred benefits on the country, 
by enabling the great canal systems of Upper India to 
be worked to an advantage that was not contemplated 
when these systems were designed. The controlling 
authority of each canal, by means of the telegraph or 
telephone, is now able to receive timely intimation of 
storms and floods, and is in a position to take prompt 
measures to prevent damage to banks, and to regulate 
the supply and discharge of water in a manner most 
satisfactory both to the finances of the canal and to 
the interests of the cultivators. The use of the tele- 
graph in working the larger canals has made very rapid 
strides of recent years, and promises soon to become 
universal. It is not necessary to speak of the use of 
telegraphy in the working of railwaj^s, but it may be 
mentioned that the Telegraph Department svipplies 
and maintains the wires for nearly all the railways in 
India, and for a very large proportion of the railways 
it also supplies and looks after the instruments. In 
telephonic enterprise it supplies the Government, 
municipal corporations, and private individuals Avith 
local exchanges or private linos ; and in Calcutta, 
Bon)bay, Madras, Rangoon, and one or two other 
places, private telephone companies have been granted 
licences for their operations, and large exchanges, 
mainly for the use of the mercantile community, have 
been established, the right of purchase by Government 
having been reserved in each case. 

It would not be possible to enter into details re- 
garding the extension of the wires over all parts of 
the country, a process which has gone on uninter- 
ruptedly since the Mutiny, to such extent annually as 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 381 

the general finances of the country permitted ; but 
a few of the frontier extensions of recent years may 
be mentioned as possessing some features of special 
interest. 

In 1888, communication was established between 
Upper Burma and Assam through the valleys of the 
Chindwin and Yu Rivers, thence northward vid Tummoo 
and Manipur to Assam. The wires run through a 
country parts of which were almost unknown at the 
time the line was undertaken, and on the outbreak of 
rebellion at Manipur, in March 1891, which resulted in 
the nuu'der of the Chief Commissioner of Assam and 
many other officers, the telegraph materially assisted in 
the military operations undertaken Tor the reconquest 
of the Manipur State. The Department lost two of its 
servants in this outbreak, Mr. W. B. Melville, super- 
intendent of the Assam Division, and Mr. James O'Brien, 
signaller, who were both nuu-dered at Myankhoung, 
near Manipur, in the execution of their duty. The 
line connecting Assam with Upper Burma has since 
attained great importance as an alternative route for 
traffic between Calcutta and Mandalay, these two 
stations being maintained in constant direct com- 
munication over some twelve hundred miles through 
as diversified and difficult a country for telegraphy as 
can well be imagined. 

The extension of the telegraph in the State of 
Kashmir has also had important results, and is one of 
Sfeneral interest. Unlike the Native States of India 
the semi-independent State of Kashmir has been 
allowed by the British Government to establish tele- 
graph lines of its own. In 1878, Mr. J. W. Duthy, 
an officer of the Indian Telegraph Department, was 
lent to the Kashmir State for the purpose of con- 
structing telegraph lines, and the Department supplied 
wire and other stores for the purpose. The difficulty 
of maintaining telegraphs in Kashmir lies in the fact 



382 GENERAL 

that the country is to a very great extent under deep 
snow during the winter, which not only breaks down 
the whes, but renders travelHng for the purpose of 
repairs almost impracticable. To minimise these diffi- 
culties everything depends on the selection of the best 
route and on the use of very strong material. Mr. 
Duthy, after much hard work and exposure, started 
the State telegraph system, but under native manage- 
ment it gradually became little more than a summer 
line, and the service could not be relied on. In 1 8 9 1 , 
political conditions called for the extension of the 
British frontier to Gilgit, the garrisoning of that place 
by Indian troops, the reorganisation of the Kashmir 
army and the appointment of a political agent at 
Gilgit. As a necessary consequence of these measures, 
a reliable telegraph line was required between India, 
Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, and Gilgit, and the 
Indian Government called on the Telegraph Depart- 
ment to undertake the work, taking over from the 
Maharajah a portion of the State lines that followed the 
route selected. The problem, by many good authorities 
considered impracticable, of maintaining telegraphic 
communication throughout the winter, was a most 
difficult one, as high passes, the Tragbal and Burzil, 
the latter 13,500 feet altitude, had to be crossed, which 
owinsT to snow are closed to all traffic throughout the 
winter and spring. Not only had the line to be 
designed of sufficient strength to resist the snow, but 
it had to follow a route where it would be as nuich as 
possible out of the track of the avalanches, which at 
certain seasons constantly sweep down the mountain 
sides carrying everything before them. To admit of 
repairs being undertaken, stations had to be fixed at 
frequent intervals, where the staff' pass the winter 
entirely isolated from the outer world, having to be 
provided with jirovisions and all the necessaries of life 
by September in ouch year, which supplies have to last 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 383 

till the snow is sufficiently melted in the following spring 
to allow of the road being opened. The officer who 
carried out this important work is Mr. H. S. Olphert, 
and admirably has he succeeded in his task, which 
occupied a period of about four years. The selection 
of the position of each post in the difficult parts, the 
transport of the massive deodar posts to almost in- 
accessible positions, where the wire would be high above 
the avalanches, these and other construction details, 
involved an amount of mountain climbing, fatigue, and 
exposure which cannot be done justice to by mere 
description. The damage done each winter was re- 
paired at the time with little delay, and during each 
succeeding summer the alignment was year by year 
improved, with the result that when trouble broke out 
in Chitral in 1894-95, the Government of India, 
thanks to Mr. Olphert and his staff, possessed a 
splendid telegraph line from Murree in the Punjab to 
Gilgit, nearly four hundred miles in length, which 
worked winter and summer, and proved of inestimable 
value during the military operations in Chitral in 
1895. The maintenance of the line during the winter 
is a service of ever-present danger. On the 14 th 
January 1897, a repairing party was overwhelmed 
by an avalanche with the loss of five lives, and on 
New Year's Day 1900, a similar misfortune exacted 
a penalty of eight lives, including Mr, Scott, the 
signaller in charge. Such accidents, which cannot 
be guarded against, are always liable to occur, and 
they are illustrations of the sacrifices necessary for 
the protection of the rugged north-west frontier of 
India. 

Amid very different scenes, some thousands of 
miles from Gilsfit, on the extreme eastern frontier of 
the Empire, the Telegraph Department was called upon, 
at the worst season of the year, between May and 
August 1895, to establish communication between 



384 GENERAL 

Taungwi and Keng Tung, a small military outpost in 
the Southern Shan States, near the Mekong River, and 
not far from the point where the three empires of Great 
Britain, France, and China meet. The work was urgent 
and of political importance, and though the country is 
most unhealthy and difficult when the rains have set 
in, the task was duly performed at the cost of much 
sickness and some loss of life, amid incessant rain, over 
steep forest-clad mountains and through malarious 
valleys, which are deserted even by their inhabitants 
at the season when the line had to be constructed. 
The rapid completion of this arduous task won special 
congratulations from the Viceroy and a bonus of pay 
for the staft' employed. In 1898, the telegraph was 
extended from Tavoy to Mergui, a place of some impor- 
tance in connection with pearl fishery, and an instal- 
ment of the international telegraph line that may 
hereafter connect Burma with the Straits Settlements. 
A careful survey of the two hundred miles of almost 
unknown, and in parts uninhabited, country between 
Mergui and Point Victoria, the extreme limit of the 
Indian Empire in this direction, tends, however, to 
show that the line will be most costly to construct 
and maintain. 

On the extreme west of the Emphe we have the 
frontier post of Chaman, only eighty miles from 
Kandahar, and from Quetta the telegraph line is 
making its way westward towards Seistan, with the 
probable ultimate result of ejecting a junction with 
the telegraph lines in Persia, and obtaining, vid Meshed 
and the Imperial Russian Telegraphs, a through line 
to Europe, which may give India a cheaper tariff' than 
she now has. 

Many similar works illustrating the far-spreading 
and varied duties of the Telegraph Department of 
India could be mentioned, but enough has been written 
to show the important part .the Department plays in 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA 385 

the great civilising work that England is carrying out 
in her eastern empire. 

The history of the first fifty years of telegraphy 
in India may be fittingly closed by a few statistics, 
showing not only the magnitude of the operations 
that have been carried out, but the financial suc- 
cess that has attended them. On the 31st March 
1899, there were 51,768 miles of line, 160,925 
miles of wire and cable, 4699 telegraph offices, of 
which 2970 were railway telegraph offices. The 
capital expended up to the above date, exclusive of 
a considerable sum written off as the value of lines 
abandoned or destroyed, amounted to Rs.65 2,1 54,052. 
On the capital sunk the Government has obtained, 
after paying all working expenses, surplus revenue 
during the past ten years, averaging 4,8 per cent, per 
annum, if the receipts for State messages are included, 
or at the rate of 2.2 per cent, if revenue from private 
messages and Avire and instrument rentals only are 
considered. The gross revenue receipts during the 
five years ending 1898-99 aggregated Rs.45,899,419, 
and the revenue charges for the same period were 
Rs.30,37 1,829, leaving a surplus of Rs.i 5,527,590. 
During the same five years 25,367,371 paid messages 
were despatched, of the value of Rs. 3 6, 6 84, 5 24. 
Considered, therefore, only in a narrow financial aspect, 
the telegraph is no burden to the taxpayers of India, 
a result which few countries can show. 

Gratifying as this financial success unquestionably 
is, and indicating as it does the skill and prudence 
with which the Department has been administered, the 
real value of the electric telegraph to India is not to 
be found in these fisrures, but in the aid it has un- 
obtrusively contributed to the safety, progress, and 
prosperity of the Empire. Forty years ago Sir W. 
O'Shauglmessy prophesied a great future for the tele- 
graph in India ; if in its first fifty years this beneficent 

V 2 B 



386 GENERAL 

invention has, through the wise liberality of Govern- 
ment and the zealous labours of its servants, achieved 
much, a still greater future may contidently be hoped 
for in the new century, which starts on its career with 
the foundations broadly and deeply laid for further 
growth and progress. 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 

By U. J. CORNEWALL-JONES 

(Aulhov of "The British Merchant Service," "Ships, Sailo7-s, 
and the Sea," <£-c. ti-c.) 

At the present time more than one-half of the mer- 
chant tonnage of the entire world sails under the 
British Hag. Excluding all vessels of less than one 
hundred tons burden, the total number of merchant 
ships owned by all the countries of the world put 
together is 28,180, with an aggregate tonnage of 
27,673,528 tons; the number of such merchant ships 
belonging to the United Kingdom, and to the British 
colonies, being 10,998, with a united tonnage of 
13,988,508 tons. 

To compress anything like an adequate and an 
intelligible account of so vast an industry as that of 
the British Mercantile Marine into a single article is 
obviously a somewhat difficult task ; but the following 
pages will help to convey a fair idea of the marvellous 
growth of the British merchant navy from very early 
times down to the present date. 

Even befoi'e the Noniian Conquest there was a con- 
siderable British maritime trade with France, British 
ships from Rouen and other ports coming up the 
Thames to " Billing's Gate " to land their wines, where 
as early as 979, or during the reign of Ethelred, a 
small vessel paid one halfpenny as a toll ; a larger 
vessel, bearing sails, one penny; a keel or hulk, four- 
pence, and so on. During the thirteenth and the 

387 



388 GENERAL 

fourteeutli centuries the English monarchs, constantly 
engaged in continental wars, had entirely to rely 
upon merchant ships for fighting purposes ; but as 
the office of the ship was simply to convey the 
archers and the other soldiers who Avere the real 
combatants, the particular kind of vessel employed 
was of no very particular moment, and British 
merchant ships which were quietly engaged in com- 
merce during times of peace became armed transports 
upon the occasion of war. 

When Edward III., in the summer of 1338, com- 
menced the war with Philip VI. of France, since 
known as the Hundred Years' War, and when he had 
determined upon the siege of Calais, he ordered a roll 
to be prepared of all the British merchant ships that 
might be available for the blockade and for the siege ; 
and from this roll we obtain the first reliable informa- 
tion with regard to the extent of the mercantile ship- 
ping of this country. The relative importance of the 
different British ports may be inferred from the 
number of the ships that they supplied to the king, 
and the results are not a little curious. Thus London 
would not appear to have been at that time, by any 
means, the most important port of the realm, being 
largely exceeded in importance by such towns as 
Dartmouth, Plymouth, Fowey, and Yarmouth ; the 
latter port contributing nearly twice as many ships 
and more than three times as many men as London. 
On the other hand, many ports that are now great 
maritime centres were then but very insignificant 
[)liiccs, whilst other ports — Liverpool, for instance — 
did not exist at all. 

The following are a few of the figures taken from 
tlic complete lists of the fleet of Edward III. preserved 
among the Harleian MSS. : — 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 389 

Ships. Sailors. 

Yarmouth 43 1950 

Fowey 47 770 

Dartniontli 32 756 

Plymouth 26 603 

London 25 662 

Bristol 22 608 

Cardifl' i 51 

Swansea i 29 

Portsmouth 5 96 

Margate 15 160 

Hartlepool 5 145 

Hastings 5 96 

The short reign of Richard III. was marked by 
one very important change in a matter intimately con- 
nected with the Mercantile Marine. Until this time 
the merchant and the shipowner were always one and 
the same person ; but now, for the first time, a dis- 
tinction was made between the business of the ship- 
owner and the business of the merchant, many vessels 
being engaged in the trade with the Mediterranean 
as carriers alone, deriving their profits entirely from 
the amount of the freight that they carried, quite apart 
from any consideration of the profits or otherwise as 
derived from their cargoes. 

The fifteenth century was pre-eminently the age of 
maritime discovery. In 14 18, Madeira was discovered 
by the Portuguese, and was at once added to the pos- 
sessions of Portugal ; in 1446 the mariners of the same 
country discovered the Cape Verde Islands, and three 
years subsequently the Azores. By 1463, the full 
knowledge of the West African coast had been pushed 
southwards as far as the Equator, and the project of 
reaching the Indies by sailing round the continent of 
Africa was seriously occupying the minds of the 
Portuguese. In 1487, Bartholomew Diaz actually suc- 
ceeded in doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and in 
reaching the neighbourhood of Algoa Bay ; and ten 
years later Vasco da Gama ultimately reached India 



390 GENERAL 

by way of the Cape. The opening of this route to 
India, and the discovery of the West India Islands, 
and ultimately the discovery of the continent of 
America itself, by Christopher Columbus, in 1492, 
gave an immense impetus to English maritime affairs, 
and as a consequence made the reign of the first Tudor 
king perhaps more important to English shipping than 
any reign preceding. 

Henry VII., like some of his predecessors upon the 
English throne, was himself a great merchant, and he 
not only owned and fitted out many ships on his own 
private account, simply for commercial purposes, but 
he endeavoured to promote, in many ways, the interests 
of maritime commerce. Although parts of the 
American continent had by this time been discovered, 
yet the general configuration of the new continent, and 
the fact that it extended to witliin the Arctic circle, 
were utterly unlinown to the civilised world, and the 
probability, or at least the possibility, of a north-west 
passage to India was seriously entertained by English 
mariners for three whole centuries. 

The voyages of discovery initiated by England at 
that time all tended in this direction, and while they 
were all consequently unsuccessful in their immediate 
object — that of finding a north-west passage to India 
— yet, on the other hand, they Avere eminently suc- 
cessful in opening up many new branches of trade and 
in greatly extending the knowledge of navigation. The 
first expedition that sailed from England for this pur- 
pose was fitted out at Bristol, under the authority of a 
charter from King Henry VII., dated the 5 th of March 
1495, by John Cabot and his three sons, the king 
taking a fifth part of the profits. Cabot, sailing from 
Bristol in a small ship called the Matlheiv, sighted the 
coast of Newfoundland on tlio 24th of June 1497 — 
St. John's Day — hence tlie name, St. John's, New- 
foundland. He found only a bleak, cold, inhos])itable 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 391 

country, but still one whose shores swarmed with fish 
of every kind — with seals, walruses, and whales ; and it 
was from this voyage that dates the commencement of 
the important cod fishery on the Banks of Newfound- 
land, and the still larger and more important indus- 
tries of the seal and whale fisheries, so largely pursued 
ever since by the hardy mariners of Hull, and of the 
northern ports. 

At the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth the 
population of the whole of England did not greatly 
exceed five millions, and the population of London was 
not more than i 50,000. The greater part of the mari- 
time commerce of the country was, however, by this 
time centred in London, the customs of the port of 
London being seven times greater than those of all the 
rest of the kingdom put together. The second mercan- 
tile port of this country then was Bristol, which, with 
a population of about 30,000, had even in those days 
some considerable commerce with the West Indies, and 
for two centuries afterwards held practically a mono- 
poly of the West Indian trade. 

After London and Bristol, the chief mercantile ports 
of England were Newcastle, Hull, Yarmouth, Harwich, 
Boston, King's Lynn, Southampton, and Plymouth ; 
Liverpool having even then but a few hundred inhabit- 
ants, and those chiefly fishermen and persons engaged 
in a very small way in the coasting trade. From a 
return made to an order of Queen Elizabeth's in the 
year 1565, it appears that the total number of vessels 
belonging to the river Mersey was fifteen, and the total 
amount of their tonnage 267 tons, no vessel being 
greater than 40 tons. The largest of these Liverpool 
ships, the Eagle, Avas of 40 tons burden, and her crew 
consisted of twelve men and a boy; the other Liver- 
pool vessels ranging from three tons up to thirty. 

At the beginning of the reign of Queen Anne, in 
1702, 560 vessels of an average burden of 150 tons 



392 GENERAL 

and manned by 1 0,06 5 seamen, belonged to tbe port of 
London. During the last three months of that year 
413 vessels were entered inwards at the Custom-house, 
London, and 256 vessels cleared outwards; whilst, in 
addition to these foreign-going vessels, there was a very 
considerable number of coasters, colliers, and fishing- 
boats. By this time coal Avas becoming largely used in 
London, and in the year 1702 no less than 250,000 
tons of coal were brought to London from the north by 
sea, the shipping employed in the coal trade between 
the North of England and London being then regarded 
as especially the nursery for seamen. 

All through the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies the ships of the East India Company were by far 
the finest vessels out of the port of London ; although 
at the commencement of that period they were but of 
very small tonnage. When the lucrative trade with 
the East, which for some time had been carried on, 
originally by the Portuguese and the Spaniards, and 
afterwards by the Dutch, first engrossed the attention 
of England, a number of merchants in London, being 
of opinion that sooner or later a north-west passage to 
India would be discovered, by means of which both the 
Spanish and the Dutch traders might be circumvented, 
fitted out two small vessels — the Sunshine, of 50 tons, 
with twenty-three hands, and the Moonshine, of 3 5 tons, 
and nineteen men. The command of this expedition 
was placed in the hands of John Davis, a mariner of 
some considerable repute, who embarked in the Sun- 
shine; and the two vessels sailed from Dartmouth on 
the 7th of June 1585, reaching as far north as 66° 40', 
and discovering the straits, since known as Davis's 
Straits. 

The following year a second voyage was tried, but 
with no further residt. In his third voyage Davis 
sailed up the same straits, with open water in BaflSn's 
Bay as far as 73" north latitude, attaining the point on 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 393 

the western coast of Greenland, which he named San- 
derson's Hope, from a wealthy merchant who had 
largely contributed to the funds of the expedition. 
He tried a fourth voyage, but it was equally unsuc- 
cessful, so that the owners of the ships at last gave up 
all idea of searching for a north-west passage, and 
determined to send Davis, in 1589, to the East Indies 
by way of the Cape of Good Hope ; the destruction of 
the Spanish Armada, and the consequent weakening of 
the maritime power of Spain, having made a passage 
to India by way of the Cape a less perilous undertak- 
ing than it had hitherto been. Davis successfully 
made four voyages to India by this route, but on his 
fifth voyage he was unfortunately killed by pirates off 
the coast of Malacca in December 1605. 

In the year 1600, the English East India Com- 
pany, then recently established, determined to despatch 
from London their first ships to open the trade with 
the East ; and the record of that expedition enables us 
to form a fairly accurate idea of the sizes of the very 
best types of British merchant ships of that age. The 
East India Company's fleet consisted of five ships. 
They were the Dragon, of 600 tons, her commander, 
according to the custom of the time, being styled 
" Admiral of the Squadron " ; the Hector, of 300 tons ; 
the Susan, of 240 tons; the Ascension, of 200 tons; 
and a storeship of 130 tons. The men employed in 
the expedition were 480, all told; and the cost of the 
vessels and their equipment was ;^45,ooo. They had 
on board twenty merchants as supercargoes, and the 
vessels were all well armed. The fleet sailed from 
Woolwich on the 13 th of February 1601, and returned 
in 1603. The voyage proved to be an entire success, 
the ships returning safely to England laden with 
valuable cargoes. 

British ships at that time were, however, very 
much inferior to the ships of many of the Continental 



394 GENERAL 

nations — notably the Dutch — for in 1603 Sir Walter 
Raleigh, in a report that he made to King James I., 
says that " the merchant ships of England were not to 
be compared with those of the Dutch ; and that while 
an Enghsh ship of one hundred tons required a crew 
of thirty men, the Dutch would sail a ship of the same 
size with one-third that number." British merchant 
shipping, however, during the reigns of the Stuarts was 
steadily improving, larger and better vessels being 
every year added to the mercantile navy ; and Sir 
William Monson states that " the shipping of the port 
of London had so aucfmented durincj the first fifteen 
years of the reign of Charles I. that it was now able to 
supply a hundred sail of stout vessels capable of being 
converted into men-of-war." 

It was at about this time that Anthony Deane and 
Phineas Pett were entrusted by the English Govern- 
ment with the designing and the construction of a 
number of new ships for the Royal Navy of England, 
and they performed these duties with such marked 
success that the wooden vessels built by them served 
as models not only for naval, but also for mercantile 
ships of the better class, for several succeeding genera- 
tions to copy, without alteration or attempt at im- 
provement until, indeed, the early part of the present 
century. 

During the first twenty years or so of the exist- 
ence of the East India Company they were not, on the 
whole, particularly successful with their ships. From 
a return presented to Parliament in November 1621, 
there is an account of the trade carried on by the 
Company during the whole time tliat they had held 
their charter, from whicli it a])pears that out of eighty- 
six ships which had been despatched to the East, 
eleven were surprised and seized by the Dutch, nine 
had been lost at sea, five had become worn out with 
long service, and only thirty -six had returned home 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 395 

with cargoes; the remaining twenty-five being reckoned 
as then in India or else at sea. As time went on, 
however, the Company did better, and during the 
twenty years succeeding the Restoration the value of 
the annual imports from Bengal alone rose from ;^8ooo 
to ^^300,000, and the gains of the Company from their 
monopoly of East Indian produce had then become 
almost incredible. 

Such success naturally excited intense jealousy, 
and the most energetic attempts were made to share 
profits so enormous; but it was not until 1698 that 
the Government, being in want of money, resolved to 
throw the trade of India open to the highest bidder. 
The existing Company was outbid by a new company, 
whose tender was accepted by the Government, but 
the old Company was to have three years grace in 
which to wind up its affairs. No fewer than sixty 
ships were now employed by the rival companies, a 
number vastly in excess of the requirements of the 
trade, so that the competition was ruining everybody 
concerned, and the i^ioo shares of the old Company, 
which had previously stood at over ;6^200, fell to £^7. 
In 1708, a stop was put to this scandal by an amalga- 
mation of the two companies, and the East India 
Company from that date practically assumed the 
position that it occupied until 1858. 

Although din-ing the greater part of the last cen- 
tury the East Indiamen were vessels of but small 
tonnage, as we now reckon the tonnage of ships, yet 
they were always well armed, and that not only for 
defensive, but very frequently for offensive purposes. 
The ships ranged from 450 to 5 00 tons ; those of the 
latter tonnage carrying from thirty to thirty-four guns, 
and being manned by ninety-eight seamen. From 
time to time the losses of the Company, from the 
number of their ships taken by the enemy, lost at sea 
or burnt, were exceedingly heavy. From the year 



396 GENERAL 

1702 to the year 18 18, no less than 169 ships of 
the Company were thus lost ; 43 being taken by the 
enemy, of which number 7, however, were afterwards 
retaken: 18 were burnt or blown up, and 108 were 
lost at sea. 

During the years 1808 and 1809, the Company 
were particularly unfortunate with theu' ships, having 
lost in those two years four outward-bound, and ten 
homeward-bound ships ; the value of one of these ships 
and her cargo amounting together to ^1,048,077. 

The East India Company possessed some of the 
finest merchant ships afloat at the time, but they 
always paid heavily for them. It was said that for 
ships similar to those for which private firms were 
paying £2$ a ton, the Company was pa3'ing iS^40 a 
ton ; but it must be borne in mind that the Company's 
ships were practically armed cruisers, and were often 
obliged to be in action with the enemy, of whom they 
not unfrequently were able to give a very good account. 
The greater number of their ships during the latter 
part of the last century and the commencement of 
this were handsome frigate-built ships, whilst some of 
the larger ones had a double row of ports, and were 
precisely like two-decked line-of-battle ships. Such a 
ship was the Hcu^l of Balcarres, which may be taken as 
a type of the finest of the Company's ships. She was 
built at Boml;)ay in i 8 i 5 , and Avas of 1 4 1 7 tons burden ; 
carried 26 guns, and was manned by a crew of 130. 
She was sold out of the Company's service in 1 8 3 i 
for ;^ 1 0,700. Her crew consisted of the commander, 
six mates, surgeon and assistant- surgeon, six midship- 
men, purser, bo'sun, gunner, carpenter, master-at- 
arms, armourer, butcher, baker, poulterer, caulker, 
cooper, two stewards, two cooks, eight bo'suns, gun- 
ner's, carpenter's, cooper's, and caulker's mates ; six 
quarter-masters, one sailmakcr, seven officers' servants, 
and seventy-eight seamen. 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 397 

The command of the Company's ships was abnost 
invariably sold to the highest bidder competent to fill 
the post, the price averaging about ;^3000. The 
captain of an East Indiaman enjoyed so many 
privileges and perquisites that the amount of his pay, 
which was supposed to be ^^ i o a month, was really 
but a very small part of his income ; indeed it was 
always reckoned that after being in command for five 
voyages to the East Indies a man would have made 
sufficient to retire upon. Including the amount of 
cargo space that was allowed him, all his perquisites, 
and his pay, it was supposed that he usually made from 
^3000 to ^5000 each voyage; but the real amount 
was often very much in excess even of this, a good 
deal of illicit trade and smuggling being systematically 
carried on. Indeed, to so large an extent was this the 
case that the Company at last resolved to put a stop to 
it, and advertised very substantial rewards to all such 
as would give information. 

The internal economy and the discipline on board 
the Company's ships was far in advance of that of 
other merchant ships of the same time. The crew 
were divided into port and starboard watches as usual, 
but the officers had three watches, as in the great 
ocean liners of to-day. At five bells in the morning 
watch (half-past six) the duties of the day commenced 
by the watch- on deck washing down and cleaning 
the decks. At half-past seven hammocks were piped 
up and stowed by the quarter-masters in the hammock- 
nettings in the waist. At eight o'clock breakfast Avas 
served to all hands, and then commenced the ordinary 
day's work at sea, similar to that of the present time. 
Dinner was at noon, and then work was resumed 
until four o'clock, the men being allowed during the 
dog-watches to do as they liked : to mend their clothes, 
to smoke, or to spend the time in games or other 
amusements. Twice every week — on Wednesdays and 



398 GENEKAL 

Saturdays — the 'tween-decks, where the men slept and 
had their meals between the guns, man-of-war fashion, 
were cleaned and holystoned, and afterwards inspected 
by the commander and the surgeon ; and the Company's 
ships being to a certain extent men-of-war, the men 
had very frequently to go through cutlass and small- 
arms drill, and were exercised at the guns as oppor- 
tunity offered. 

The rapid increase in the number of ships engaged 
in the foreign trade entering the port of London during 
the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, and also 
the steady increase in their tonnage, may be seen from 
the following figures : — 

Tonnage Entering the Port of London. 
(Foreign Trade only.) 

Ships. Tons. Average Tonnage 

' per Ship. 

In the year 1702 . . 839 . 80,040 . 95 

„ 1751 • • 1498 . 198,053 . 132 

„ 1794 . . 2219 . 429,715 . 193 

Tons. 
In the year 1 889 the tonnage entering the port 

of London amounted to . . . . 10,400,000 

In the year 1890 (the year of the Dock strike) 8,700,000 

,, 1891 8,400,000 

» 1892 8,245,000 

„ 1893 8,121,000 

'899 9,244,5931 

Until the year 1789, all ships entering the port of 
London discharged their cargoes as they lay in the 
river, there being then no docks to receive the steadily 
increasing amount of shipping. Property of the most 
valuable description was always lying exposed in 
barges and in open boats, and llie robberies were so 
enormous that they were estimated as annually ex- 
ceeding half a million sterling. In the above year the 

' Figures furnished by the Board of Trade. 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 399 

number of barges, lighters, and similar craft em})loye(l 
in the loading and unloading of ships in the river was 
2503, about half that number being engaged in the 
coal trade. Previous to the construction of the docks 
it was reckoned that an East Indiaman of 800 tons 
took a month to unload, whilst one of 1200 tons took 
six weeks. When the St. Katherine's Docks, which were 
fitted with all the best appliances then known, were first 
opened in 1828, the average time occupied in discharg- 
ing a vessel of 250 tons was tAvelve hours, and a ship 
of 500 tons two or three days. Last year (1899), on 
Wednesday the 4th of October, at twelve o'clock noon, one 
of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers, which had been 
taken up by the Government for the transport of troops to 
the Cape, arrived in the Royal Albert Docks from Yoko- 
hama, with 6000 tons of cargo on board. By noon on 
Saturday the 7 th she had entirely finished discharging, 
and the same afternoon went into dry dock to have 
her bottom cleaned and painted. This work was done 
between Saturday evening and Monday morning, and 
by noon on Monday she was again alongside the quay 
in the Albert Docks, with an army of carpenters and 
painters on board getting her ready for the troops ; 
so great has been, of late years, the acceleration of all 
matters connected with the loading and the unloading 
of ships. 

Several different circumstances conduced to the 
fact that the first quarter of the present century was 
an exceedingly dull time in the annals of British ship- 
ping. For the first fifteen years of the century the 
country was engaged in a great and costly European 
war, with disastrous effects upon all branches of mari- 
time commerce. At this time, too, England was feeling 
the effects of the loss of her American colonies. So 
long as the American colonies were a portion of the 
British Empire, English and American vessels sailed 
freely between English and American ports ; but after 



400 GENERAL 

tlie declaration of independence by tlie United States, 
American ships were treated by England as foreign 
vessels, and were subjected to precisely the same re- 
strictions as the vessels of other foreign countries. As 
a set-off against this, English ships were prohibited 
from importing British goods into the United States ; 
and matters so continued until after the American 
War of 1812. The abolition of the slave trade during 
the early years of the century had also a very marked 
effect upon British shipping. 

In the year 1562, John Hawkins (afterwards Sir 
John), a native of Plymouth, learning that " negroes 
were very good merchandise to Hispaniola, and that 
store of them might easily be had upon the coast of 
Guinea," started upon an expedition to the Gold Coast 
with three small vessels — the Solomon, of 120 tons; 
the Swallow, 100 tons; and the Jonas, of 40 tons; and 
there embarked a cargo of three hundred slaves, which 
he carried to the West Indies ; thus having the honour 
of beginning the disgraceful traffic in negroes carried 
on by British merchant ships, which lasted until early 
in the present century. He received from the Spaniards 
in exchange for his three hundred slaves, pearls, ginger, 
sugar, and hides, enough not merely to freight his own 
three vessels, but two others besides, and " thus with 
prosperous success, and much gain to himself and the 
aforesaid adventurers, he came home, and arrived in 
September i 563." 

The two ports most interested in this iniquitous 
trade were Bristol and Liverpool. By the year 1772, 
Liverpool had become as important a port as Bristol ; 
and at that time the ships of these two ports alone, 
engaged in the slave trade, carried annually 50,000 
negro slaves from the African coast to the British 
plantations in the West Indies. It was in this year 
t,hat, after a long agitation by the Society of Friends in 
favoiu- of the total abolition of slavery, the famous 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 401 

decision of Lord Mansfield was obtained, " that a slave 
becomes free at the moment of his setting his foot on 
British soil." The most violent opposition to the aboli- 
tion of the slave trade was offered by the merchants 
and the shipowners of Liverpool ; but with the ultimate 
passing of the measure for negro emancipation, in 
March 1 807, the trade was declared to be finally 
abolished. By this Act, however, only a small fine 
was exacted from offenders, and it consequently had but 
very little effect. The trade was manifestly far too profit- 
able to be stopped by a mere money penalty, so in i 8 1 1 
a further Act was passed declaring its pursuit by British 
subjects " a felony," punishable by fourteen years' trans- 
portation, or imprisonment with hard labour. In course 
of time even this was not found to be sufficiently deter- 
rent, and accordingly in 1824, the act of trading in 
slaves was pronounced a " pii-acy," and punishable by 
death if conmiitted within the Admiralty jurisdiction, 
and then this disgraceful traffic came to an end. 

The commencement of the present century wit- 
nessed the application of steam to the purposes of 
navigation, but for the first twenty-five years without 
its producing any effect whatever upon merchant 
shipping ; and during the second twenty- five years 
without its producing any very marked effect upon 
long-voyaged foreign-going ships. As the middle of 
the century was approached British shipowners were 
still building magnificent sailing-ships for the East 
Indian and the then newly-developed Colonial trade ; 
and although steam was already making rapid progress, 
and Avas steadily threatening the sailing-ship with 
ultimate extinction, yet never had the world seen such 
perfect specimens of sailing-ships as the frigate-built 
ships that Green, Money Wigram, and others were 
sending out in the passenger trade to India and to 
the Australian colonies. But the first-class " river- 
built " ships, as those constructed on the Thames were 
V 2 c 



402 GENERAL 

called, were always expensive and could not, from a 
money point of view, compete witli the cheaper ships 
that were being built in America, so that at one time 
it seemed as though a very large part of the carrying 
trade of the world Avas about to be transferred from 
Great Britain to the United States. 

Like many other useful arts, that of building fast- 
sailing clipper-ships came to this country from America, 
the shipbuilders of Baltimore claiming the honour of 
being the first to turn out these swift and handsome 
vessels. From the Potomac issued the particular kind 
of craft that soon became famous throughout the world, 
under the name of "Baltimore clippers," not only for their 
astonishing speed, but also for the exceeding beauty of 
their model. New York and Boston next turned their 
attention to the building of an improved type of ship, 
and it was not long before a fleet of handsome clippers 
hailed from these two ports also. The first of the 
famous American clippers built at New York was the 
Sea Witch, of 907 tons register, which was launched in 
1 844. She was the fastest sailing-ship afloat at the 
time, and is believed to have had more influence on 
the form of deep-sea vessels than any other merchant 
ship ever built in the United States of America. 
With her the full bow and the long sharp run aft 
went out of fashion, and the long sharp bow with a 
fuller stern came into permanent use, the world over, 
for fast ships of the Mercantile Marine. Her speed 
Avas surprising ; although she was exceedingly unstable 
without a good deal of ballast, and she rolled very 
considerably in a sea-way. 

The Sea Witch was speedily followed by larger and 
swifter clippers, many of them being specially built 
for the China tea trade ; among these ships were the 
Oriental and the Celestial, and after them the Challenge 
and the Surprise, with very many others. Among the 
many splendid passages made by these American 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 403 

clippers, those of the Oriental and the Celestial, belong- 
ing to New York, perhaps stand pre-eminent. The 
Oriental accomplished the distance from New York to 
Hong Kong — 14,521 miles by log, and 14,160 by 
observation — in less than 71 days, her average rate 
of sailing being 200 miles a day. The Celestial made 
the passage from New York to San Francisco in 95 
days, which was two days quicker than the Sea Wilch 
had done, which until that time had been the shortest 
passage on record. 

English shipowners were, however, not disposed 
quietly to see the honours of the ocean carrying trade 
pass entirely into the hands of the Americans, and in 
1850 Mr. Richard Green, of the famous Blackwall 
Line, built the Cliallenger, to rival the New York 
Challewje, whilst Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. sent 
out the Aberdeen-built clippers, Chrysolite and Stornoway. 
In their first race, however, the British ships were de- 
feated, the American-biult clipper Challenge maldng the 
passage from Canton to Deal in i o 5 days, the Stornoway 
taking 1 09 days ; and while the Challenger was 1 1 3 days 
coming from Shanghai to Deal, the American clipper 
Nightingale took only i 10 days to do the same distance. 

The Kightingale was one of the fastest of the 
American clippers. In this race from Shanghai, on 
one day she ran 336 nautical miles in the twenty-four 
hours, or at the rate of rather more than sixteen 
statute miles an hour. The next year, 1854, she ran 
from New York to Melbourne in 76 days. 

The years from 1 8 5 o to 1855 were noted for the 
number of fast clippers turned out from the building- 
yards of the United States, and the demand for such 
vessels became so great that they were frequently very 
hastily constructed. As a case in point, the John 
Bertram, i 1 00 tons register, a clipper well known for 
a few years, was launched in only sixty daj's from the 
laying down of her keel, and in thirty days more was 



404 GENERAL 

speeding on her way from Boston to San Francisco with 
a full cargo of goods at forty dollars per ton freight. 
This reckless mode of construction soon told its tale, 
more particularly in the case of the China tea clippers 
of American build, which, in spite of the fact that 
they were exceedingly beautiful vessels, and admirable 
in point of speed, were notoriously so slightly built 
that on arrival their cargoes were frequently found to 
be very seriously damaged. 

In 1 8 5 I , Donald M'Kay, of East Boston, a name 
destined to become famous in connection with fast- 
saihng ships, built the Flyiwj Cloud, a clipper of 1782 
tons register. She made her first voyage from New 
York to San Francisco, doing the passage out in 
90 days. Upon one day she ran 427 nautical miles, 
then the very fastest time on record. 

The next year, 1852, Mr. Donald M'Kay built the 
clipper. Sovereign of the Seas. She was 245 feet in length 
and 2421 tons register, and was the largest, sharpest, 
and longest sailing-ship in the world at the time of her 
construction. Upon one occasion she ran 1367 miles 
in four days, thus keeping up a continuous rate of over 
fourteen miles an hour. Once she made 436 miles in 
twenty-four hours, or over eighteen miles an hour. 

The original " White Star " Line was composed of a 
fleet of these fast-sailing American clippers, and among 
their ships were the Champion of the Seas, the Blue Jacket, 
the Sardinian, the White Star, the Shalinar, the Salamis, 
the Patriarch, with many other equally well-known ships, 
sailing to Australia. Of these, perhaps, the Patriarch 
Avas the fastest ship, making in 1868 the run home 
from Sydney to the West India Docks in 68 days. 

When steam was first being employed for the 

Tran.satl antic voyage, the Yankees tried their level 

best, with these fast-sailing and handsome clippers, to 

beat the steamers, Avhich then were taking some 

15 or 16 days to cross, so that the case at that time 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 405 

did not look so very hopeless. One of these clippers, 
the Dreadiwugld, actually came across from New York 
to Queenstown in 9 days 17 hours, which Avas much 
faster than the steamers, and which is probably the 
fastest sailing time on record, being at the rate of at 
least twelve knots an hour the whole distance. The 
Ashhurton crossed from New York to Liverpool in 
I 2 days and the Princeton in 1 6 days. The Gleniffer 
made four voyages to Quebec and back, thus crossing 
the Atlantic eight times during eight months, her 
fastest passage being from Quebec to Greenock in i 5 
days ; but the days of the Transatlantic passenger 
trade were obviously over for sailing-ships, Avhich had 
at last to haul doAvn their colours to the steamers. 

During the whole of the " fifties " and the " sixties," 
the average Australian passage of the regular English 
frigate-built ships was from 90 to 100 days, so that 
no small sensation was created at Liverpool by the 
American-built clipper Marco Polo making the passage 
from Melbourne in the then unprecedentedly short 
time of 75 days. In 1854, Messrs. Baines & Co., of 
the Black Ball Line, put on two splendid ships, the 
LightnitKj and the lied Jacket, followed shortly after by 
the equally celebrated clipper, James Baines. All these 
fine ships used to make the Australian passage in 
from 60 to 70 days, so that upon one occasion when 
the James Baines and the Lightning left Melbourne the 
same month, and when the former ship was over 
100 days coming home, there was something like a 
panic in Liverpool. The James Baines left Melbourne 
on the 7th of August 1856, having on board 174,000 
ounces of gold dust, worth about ^700,000. Not 
having arrived at Liverpool on the 1 4th of November, 
being then 99 days out, insurances were effected upon 
her at ;^8 per cent, (her usual terms for specie being 
from 35s. to 40s. per cent.); and being still unheard 
of on the 20th of November, then 105 days out, ;^I5 



4o6 GENERAL 

per cent, was paid. On the next day, the 21st, she 
was towed up the Mersey. 

Some Aberdeen-built cHppers were, however, by 
this time making their appearance, whose performances 
quite equalled those of the American ships. The Maid 
of Judah, 1 200 tons register, made the passage from 
London to Sydney, in 1 860, in 78 days ; whilst the Star 
of Peace, of 2000 tons, made four consecutive passages 
from London to the same port respectively in 77, 77, 78, 
and 79 days. The British clipper-ship Hurricane was 
also an exceedingly fast sailer. She came home from 
Melbourne in 74 days ; and upon one occasion ran 
270 nautical miles in i6h hours, thus keeping up a 
continuous speed of nearly 1 9 statute miles an hour. 

In 1856, Messrs. Scott & Co. of Greenock built the 
Lord of the Isles, to compete with the American tea 
clippers, and in the next race home from China she 
beat the Americans in point of speed, besides possessing 
the additional quality of being better built than they 
were, and in consequence bringing her cargo home 
entirely uninjured. For some years the honours of 
this race were pretty equally divided, the palm of 
victory falling sometimes to the British ships, some- 
times to the American ; but before the " sixties " were 
out the blue ribbon of the China tea race was finally 
wrested from the Americans, and carried off by the 
British ships, some very smart sailing constantly taking 
place between the competitors. In the race of 1866 
the Ariel, 750 tons, of London; the Tdcpinf/, y6y tons, 
of Glasgow ; the Serica, 708 tons, of Greenock, with 
two other famous clippers, left Foo-chow-foo together 
for London. At nightfall on the first day out they all 
lost sight of each other, and during the entire distance 
from China to England they never met again until off 
the mouth of the Channel. The Ariel and the Tacping 
then came up the Channel neck and neck, but the 
Ariel getting in advance of the Tacinng in towing up 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 407 

the river, was the first to arrive ott' Bliickwall. In 
consequence, however, of there not beinjj;- sufficient 
depth of water at the dock entrance of the West India 
Docks, she could not be hauled into the docks the same 
day, and had to let go her anchor in the stream and to 
wait till the next tide ; meanwhile the Taeping passed 
her, and succeeded in getting into the London Docks the 
moment she came up, and thus claimed the prize. 

A very characteristic anecdote of American 'cute- 
ness is told in connection with one of these races home. 
The celebrated Baltimore clipper Sea Serpe/iit sailed from 
Shanghai for London in company with the British 
clipper Crest of the Wave. A premium of thhty 
shillingfs a ton, over and above the amount of the 
freight, had been offered to the vessel first in, and 
this was quite sufficient inducement for both skippers 
to crack on. The two ships were fairly near together 
all the way home, and they actually hove to for pilots, 
off the Isle of Wight, within an hour of each other. 
The American captain determined that he would not 
be outdone by the Britisher, so leaving his ship in the 
hands of the mate, he came ashore in the boat that 
brought out his pilot, took the steamer from Cowes to 
Southampton, and the train up to Waterloo. From 
thence he took a cab to the Custom-house, and 
reported the Sea Serpent as " arrived," while each ship 
was carrying on all she knew in order to get into the 
Thames before the other. 

Two of the most celebrated British clippers of the 
time were the Sir Lancelot, 7 so tons, of Greenock, and 
the ThermopylK, 948 tons, of Aberdeen. The one idea 
in the construction of the Sir Lancelot Avas speed, and 
every pains were taken to a6hieve that result. Before 
the copper was put on to her bottom, her planks from 
the water-line downwards were planed oft', and the hard 
teak rendered as smooth as a ball-room ftoor. In order 
to give the vessel greater stability, and to enable her 



408 GENERAL 

to carry her immensely tall masts, which exceeded 
200 feet in height, nearly 100 tons of iron pigs were 
fitted into the open spaces along the keelson between 
her frames. That she needed some such dead weight 
as this to keep her steady may well be supposed when 
it is stated that, in racing trim and under all sail, the 
Si?' Lancelot spread upwards of 46,000 square feet, or 
considerably over an acre, of canvas. 

This ship made some exceedingly fast passages, of 
which perhaps the fastest was the run home from 
Foo-chow-foo, in 1869. Upon that occasion she left 
Foo-chow-foo on the 17 th of July. On the 7 th of 
August she made Anjer Light, in Sunda Strait ; on the 
28th of the same month she sighted the South African 
coast, near East London ; on the 1 1 tli of September 
she passed St. Helena; on the loth of October she 
was signalled off the Lizard ; and on the 1 4th was 
berthed in the West India Docks, having made the 
passage of 14,000 miles in 89 days against the pre- 
vailing monsoon. Her best day's run was made while 
crossinuf the Indian Ocean, when on one occasion she 
did, by observation, 354 statute miles in the twenty- 
four hours ; whilst for one whole week she kept up 
an average daily run of 300 miles. 

Towards the close of the year 1869 the Suez 
Canal was opened for traffic, and this ultimately 
caused important alterations in the trade to China 
and to the East; the steamers entirely superseding 
the sailing-sliips. For the Australian and the colonial 
trade generally, the day of these magnificent sailing- 
ships was fast drawing to a close. For the conveyance 
of passengers and mails the time of sailing-ships was 
certainly over, and nuich of the poetry of the sea was 
lost for ever. The graceful clipper- ship, with her tall 
and tapering spars and her acre of canvas, had to give 
place to the Peninsular and Oriental, the Orient, or 
tlie Cunard steamer, five or six liundred feet long. 



THK JiKiriSH MERCANTILE MARINE 409 

and bnilt of steel, with her great funnels continuously 
belching forth vast volumes of black smoke. The 
skipper of the Sir Lancelot, or the Thermoiyylie , who 
got an extra knot out of his ship by the smartest sea- 
manship, or by the most careful trimming of his sails, 
is replaced by the engineer of the Campania or the 
Teutonic, who effects the same result by shovelling on 
more coals, or by turning on more steam. 

Accuracy of navigation is, of course, common to 
both steam and sails; but smart seamanship was, and 
is, the special characteristic of the sailing-ship, and 
records of smart passages are conmion enough even 
at the present day among vessels that still trust to 
their canvas and not to their steam. To give one or 
two instances out of many that occur every year : 
On 4th February 1895, the Cambrian Monarch, a full- 
rigged ship of 1200 tons, with a cargo of grain, left 
Geelong for Queenstown for orders. Twenty-four 
hours afterwards the Mandalay, a Glasgow barque of 
9 1 2 tons, also with grain, left Geelong for Queens- 
town for orders. The Cambrian Monarch crossed the 
meridian of the Horn exactly twenty-four hours before 
the Mandalay ; she crossed the Line also twenty-four 
hours before the Mandcday ; and exactly twenty-four 
hours before the arrival of the Mandalay she let go 
her anchor in Queenstown Harbour, although neither 
vessel had sighted the other from the time of leaving 
Geelong until the time of arrival at Queenstown. The 
same barque, the Mandalay, left Timaru, New Zealand, 
with the new season's wool, on the 2nd of February 
I 897, in company with the Nelson, also with wool. As 
darlmess came on the two ships lost sight of each 
other, and neither ship ever sighted the other again 
until their arrival in the river, when the Mandalay 
towed up one tide and the Nelson the next. 

But although, to a large extent, canvas has been 
superseded by the propeller; and although, as above 



4IO GENERAL 

stated, the days are certainly over for the conveyance 
of passengers and the mails in sailing-ships ; yet there 
are, happily, still many avenues of trade left in which 
the sailing-ship may be employed more profitably than 
the steamer, and numbers of great four-masted, steel- 
built sailing-ships still find ample employment; only 
instead of carrying passengers to the colonies, they are 
taking cargoes of coal to Rio, or are bringing home 
their three or four thousand tons of wool from 
Australia, or of nitrate from the West Coast. 

In the year 1 8 1 2 steam made its first appearance 
in this country as the antagonist of sails, when the 
first British passenger steamer, the Comet, was launched 
on the Clyde. She was only of about 2 5 tons burden, 
40 feet long, loA feet beam, and she drew 4 feet of 
water. Her engine, which cost ^192, was of 3 horse- 
power, the diameter of the cylinder being 1 1 inches, 
and the stroke 16 inches. She was not, however, an 
entire success, her speed at the best being not more 
than three miles an hour, whilst occasionally she would 
break down altogether. 

In 1 8 1 4 a vessel called the Marjory was built at 
Dumbarton, and was fitted with a side-lever engine of 
1 4 horse-power. She made her way round from Dum- 
barton to the Thames, being taken south along the 
east coast, having come through the Forth and Clyde 
Canal. When she reached the mouth of the Thames 
the fleet Avere lying at anchor there, and she passed 
through the lines of ships, exciting the greatest com- 
motion among officers and men, Avho, none of them 
havinir over seen a steamer before, took her for some 
novel description of fire-ship. She was hailed by the 
nearest man-of-war, and asked what she was, those 
on board replying tliat " she was a steamer, and from 
Scotland." Soon after her arrival in the Thames she 
commenced running to Margate with passengers. On 
her first voyage to Margate only ten people were found 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 411 

adventurous enough to trust themselves on board ; but 
before the end of the summer she was running with 
a much larger number of passengers every trip ; and 
this would appear to mark the real commencement of 
the passenger steamer in this country. The Marjory 
was 63 feet long, and 19 feet beam. She continued 
for many years to ply on the Thames, and was finally 
broken up in 1858. 

In 1 8 1 8 the Rob Boy was built at Dumbarton. 
She was of 90 tons burthen, and was fitted with an 
engine of 30 horse-power. She was the first steamer 
to ply between Glasgow and Belfast. After running for 
some time on this service she was sent round to Dover, 
her name being altered to the Henri Quatre, and she was 
the first Channel steamer between Dover and Calais. 

In I 8 19 Mr. Napier built the Talbot, of 150 tons. 
The Talbot was fitted with a pair of engines, each of 
30 horse-power, and was the first steamer to be placed 
on the Dublin and Holyhead service. 

In 1822 a still larger steamer, the James Watt, 
was built. She was 146 feet long, and 25 feet beam, 
and was fitted with a pair of engines, each of 50 horse- 
power. Her speed was said to have been ten miles an 
hour. She was the first steamer to be entered in Lloyd's 
books. By 1830 the number of steamers so enterod 
had increased to 81, and the number of steamers 
entered in Lloyd's books in 1832 was exactly 1 00. 

People now began to talk about the possibility of 
crossing the Atlantic by steam, but many persons in 
this country denounced the proposal as absolutely im- 
practicable, chiefly because it was thought that no 
vessel could carry sufficient coal for steaming such a 
voyage. In these early steamers the amount of coal 
consumed was frequently as much as 9 lbs. per horse- 
power per hour, so that the objection would seem to 
have been not altogether an unreasonable one. At 
the present time, as the result of the great improve- 



412 GENERAL 

ments that have been effected in furnaces, boilers, and 
machinery, the high speeds of our ocean steamers are 
attained on a consumption in many cases of less than 
a pound and a half of coal per horse-power per hour. 
Dr. Lardner, a well-known scientist, in the course of a 
lecture he delivered at Liverpool, spoke as follows : 
" As to the project, however, which has been lately 
announced in the newspapers — that of crossing the 
Atlantic by steam — I have no hesitation in saying that 
it is perfectly chimerical, and that people might just 
as well talk about making a voyage from New York 
or Liverpool to the moon." In spite, however, of Dr. 
Lardner, in 1817, a Mr. Scarlborough, of Savannah, 
Georgia, United States, determined to make the attempt 
to cross from America to Europe by steam. He 
accordingly purchased a vessel of 300 tons that was 
then building at New York, fitted her with engines, 
and named her the Savannah. On the 19th of May 
1 8 1 9 she left the port of Savannah for Liverpool, which 
was safely reached on the 20th of June. She did not, 
however, steam the entire way across the Atlantic, as 
she ran short of fuel, so that the latter part of the 
passage had to be accomplished under canvas only. 

In 1825 the first attempt was made to reach India 
l^ steam, and a small steamer, the Enterprise, 122 feet 
long and 27 feet beam, left London for Calcutta, which 
port she reached, partly under steam and partly under 
sail, in 113 days. In 1829 the Cura(;oa, an English- 
built steamer of 350 tons and 100 horse-power, made 
several voyages across the Atlantic between Holland 
and the West Indies ; but little more was done in the 
way of Transatlantic steam navigation until the year 
1837, when the Sir ins, which was built at Leith for 
tlir Irisli trade, was purchased and was specially 
altered for this purpose. She was of 703 tons, 178 
feet in length, with a beam i^'i 25 feet 8 inches, so 
that in her proportions she was not very unlike the 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 413 

present type of ocean steamer — that is to say, she had 
a length of about seven beams. The Sirius left Cork 
at ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of April, 
with ninety-four passengers for New York, which port 
she safely reached after a run of 18 days on the 23 rd 
of the same month. 

Three days after the Sirius left Cork another 
steamer, the Great Western, built at Bristol, left that 
port also for New York, where she arrived only an 
hour or tAvo after the Sirius, having made the passage 
in 14^ days. The Great Western was a much larger 
vessel than the Sirius, having a tonnage of 1340 tons. 
She was 2 1 2 feet long between perpendiculars, 3 5 feet 
4 inches beam, with 23 feet depth of hold. She was 
exceedingly strongly built, her frame-timbers being as 
heavy as those of a first-class line-of-battlc ship, and 
they were placed so close together that they Avere 
caulked, both inside and out, before the planking was 
put on. Her engines were of 440 horse-power, and 
the paddle-wheels were 28 feet in diameter, making 
from 12 to 15 revolutions per minute. Her average 
speed during her first passage from Bristol to New 
York was 208 miles per day, or at the rate of 8.6 
knots per hour, and she consumed on the passage 655 
tons of coal. The Great Western ran regularly across 
the Atlantic from 1838 to 1843, milking in all sixty- 
four passages. In 1847 she was sold to the West 
India Mail, and she remained in their service for many 
years, being finally broken up at Vauxliall in 1857. 

The same Company that owned the Sirius — the 
British and American Steam Navigation Company — 
at once commenced building two vessels larger than 
the Sirius : the British Queen and the President. They 
were each of 1863 tons, with a length of 275 feet, 37 
feet 6 inches beam, and with engines of 500 horse- 
power, the diameter of the paddle-wheels being 30 
feet. The Sirius, being considered too small for the 



414 GENERAL 

Atlantic trade, was withdraAvn from that service and 
was used for some years in the home coasting trade. 
She was wrecked in 1847. 

The British Queen left Portsmouth for New York 
on the 1 2th of July 1839, and made her first passage 
across in 14 days 8 hours. She crossed the Atlantic 
six times in 1839, and the following year made five 
voyages out and home ; but financially she was a 
failure, and ultimately was withdrawn from the service, 
being sold in 1841 to the Belgian Government, Her 
sister ship, the President, made only three passages. 
She left New York for Liverpool with a large number 
of passengers and a valuable cargo on the loth of 
March 1 84 1 and was never heard of again. 

The oldest of the Transatlantic lines of steamers 
existing at the present time is the Cunard Line. 
The Company was floated in 1 840, with a capital of 
^270,000, and was at first styled "The British and 
North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company," 
but this cumbrous title soon gave way to the shorter 
and now well-known designation of" The Cunard Line." 
The four paddle-wheel steamers with which the Cunard 
Line was first started Avere the Britannia, Columbia, 
Acadia, and Caledonia, ench of about 11 50 tons, 206 
feet in length, with engines of 425 horse-power, and 
all of them keeping up a uniform speed of 8i knots. 
After ten years had passed, and the Company had had 
to fight against the most formidable opposition, parti- 
cularly from the American shipowners, who had de- 
teririined to "run the Cunarder.s off the Atlantic," it 
became necessary to put on much larger and much more 
powerful steamers, and the Asia, the Africa, and other 
magnificent ships were built for the mail service. The 
Asia and tho A fi'ica, sister ships, were each of 2128 
tons. Tlicy were 267 feet in length, 40 feet beam, 
with engines of 814 horse-power, the paddle-wheels 
being ^y feet 6 inches in diameter. The vessels were 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 415 

entirely built of oak, planked double, both outside and 
inside, the intervening space being filled up with rock 
salt, from keel to gunwale, to preserve the timbers 
from dry rot. 

As showing what was being done by other great 
ocean steam companies, mention should be made of 
the Amazon, built m 1 8 5 i by Messrs. R. & H. Green, 
at Blackwall, for the Royal Mail Steam- Packet Com- 
pany, for the service between Southampton and the 
West Indies, and which ship was unfortunately burnt 
on her first voyage, with fearful loss of life. The 
Amazon was the largest wooden merchant ship that 
had been constructed up to that time, being 300 
feet long, 4 1 feet beam, and 3 2 feet in depth. She 
was 2256 tons register, and was, like all her pre- 
decessors, a paddle-wheel steamer. Her engines, con- 
structed by Seaward & Capel of Millwall, were of 
800 horse-power, the diameter of the cylinders being 
96 inches, and the stroke 9 feet. The paddle-wheels 
were 41 feet in diameter, and made fourteen revolu- 
tions per minute, giving a mean speed of eleven knots 
per hour. Her coal-bunkers on the main deck were 
constructed to carry 1 000 tons of coal ; and as she 
was reckoned to burn sixty tons a day in her twenty- 
six furnaces, it was calculated that she would carry 
over sixteen days' supply if she were going at full 
speed. She was magnificently fitted up, and had cost 
when ready for sea rather over ;^ 100,000. 

In 1862, the Scotia was built for the Cunard 
Company. She was of 3871 tons and 975 horse- 
power; her length was 367 feet, with a beam of 47 
feet 6 inches. The engines worked up to an indicated 
horse-power of 4200, the diameter of the cylinders 
being 100 inches, with a stroke of 12 feet. The 
diameter of the paddle-wheels was 40 feet. The 
Scotia, which crossed from New York to Liverpool 
in 8 days 22 hours, was undoubtedly the most magui- 



4i6 GENERAL 

ficent ocean steamer of that date. She was the last 
paddle-wheel steamer built by the Cimard Company ; 
and indeed was the last ocean paddle-wheel steamer 
ever built. 

Two most important revolutions in matters con- 
nected Avith shipping had by this time taken place. 
One was the substitution of the propeller for the 
paddle-wheel, the other the introduction of iron, and 
more recently that of steel, for the construction of 
the ship itself. As the necessity for increase in the 
length and in the speed of vessels arose, experi- 
ence showed that the requisite strength of structure 
could not be efficiently maintained in wooden ships. 
The practical difficulties in the way of making the 
connections of the frames and the planking strong 
enough were insurmountable when the length reached 
about 300 feet. Vessels of this length, when built 
of wood, soon showed serious signs of weakness ; but 
with an iron ship the simple connection of the iron 
plates and bars to each other by means of suitable 
straps of the same material, and by the use of rivets, 
would obviously so lend itself to the construction of 
the iron vessel that there need be absolutely no limit 
as regards her length or her size. As a matter of 
fact, the length of iron steamers appears to be always 
steadily increasing. At first the length increased very 
gradually from about 360 feet, the maxinuim in the 
year 1 86 1 , to 400 feet in 1 870 ; but since that time the 
progress has been much more rapid. At the present 
time there are plenty of steamers exceeding 500 feet 
in length. The two latest additions to the fleet of the 
Cunard Line, the Campania and the Lvcania, are each 
620 feet in length, wliilst the last ship built for the 
White Star Line, the Oceanic, has a length over all of 
704 feet, or considerably more than a furlong. 

The great alteration, however, involved b}^ the 
substitution of iron for wood in shipbuilding did not 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 417 

take place without very considerable opposition, and 
no one more strenuously opposed it than did the 
Government of the day. It was a long time before 
the authorities of the Post Office Avould give their 
consent to iron sliips being used instead of wooden 
ones for the conveyance of the ocean mail ; and a 
still longer time elapsed before the Admiralty con- 
sented to the change of material for the ships of 
the Royal Navy. Wooden paddle-wheel steamers 
continued to be used in the Royal Navy for many 
years after everybody else had given them up ; but 
when at last it was found that paddle-wheels for war- 
ships must of necessity be abandoned on account of 
their liability to destruction in time of war ; and 
when it was found that it was perfectly impossible to 
construct a wooden ship sufficiently strongly to resist 
the vibration of the powerful engines that are used in 
the larger vessels, then paddle-wheels and wooden 
ships had to disappear together. 

Besides its greater strength there is another great 
advantage on the side of iron, and to a still larger 
extent in the case of steel, and that is its greater 
lightness. The iron vessel is far lisfhter than the 
wooden vessel of equal size, a strong iron ship not 
weighing one-half of the same-sized wooden ship. 
The averasfc weight of iron steam-vessels is from six 
to eight hundredweight per register ton; a wooden 
ship will weigh twenty hundredweight, and often 
more. The lighter ship is, of course, more easily 
propelled than the heavier ship ; less engine-power is 
required ; therefore, besides being stronger and lighter, 
she is at the same time much more economical. One 
advantage, however, undoubtedly the wooden ships 
possessed over the iron ones, and that was that their 
bottoms, when sheathed with metal, never became 
foul so quickly as the iron ships' bottoms do from 
marine growths. Many proposals have been made 
v 2D 



41 8 GENERAL 

from time to time with the object of preventing 
fouling, for it is obvious that serious loss of speed 
results from much fouling of the bottom ; but it 
cannot yet be said that any of the paint compositions, 
or other plans to keep the bottoms of iron vessels 
clean, have been entirely successful, and this renders 
it necessary to place every iron or steel vessel in dry 
dock for cleaning and painting at intervals of from 
six to twelve months. 

Soon after the building of iron ships was com- 
menced, the system of construction known as the 
composite system was adopted, and some of the fine 
and notable China tea clippers, among them the cele- 
brated /S'ir Lancelot and the Thcrmojn/la:, were so built. 
The iron framing and the wood skin planking admitted 
of considerable strength being attained ; while the 
possibility of sheathing the bottom with metal to 
avoid fouling appeared to arrive at and attain the 
end that the promoters of composite shipbuilding had 
in view. This was to produce a vessel that should 
have all the strength of an iron ship, whilst at the 
same time obtaining the freedom from fouling of a 
wooden one. Experience soon showed, however, that 
the galvanic action set up between the copper or the 
yellow metal sheathing and the iron frames of the 
vessel tended rapidly to deteriorate the ironwork, and 
sooner or later to involve the destruction of the ship. 
So rapid, indeed, was in some instances the wasting of 
the iron frames, that composite shipbuilding has for 
some time past been almost entirely given up for 
merchant ships. As five-and-twenty years ago iron 
was taking the place of wood in the construction of 
sliips, so now, at the close of the century, steel is 
steadily superseding iron for the same purpose, and 
at the present day for every iron ship that is built 
eight steel ships are constructed. 

About the year 1890 another very marked change 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARIXK .,,9 

manifested itself in the construction of ocean steam- 
ships. Up till that time every large ocean-going 
steamer was practically more or less a sailing-ship, 
with steam-power added. She was heavily sparred — 
with three, sometimes four, masts ; with yards, and all 
the appliances of standing and running rigging. The 
length of steamers was constantly increasing, whilst it 
was obviously impossible that the due proportion be- 
tween the length of the ship and the height of the 
masts could increase in a like ratio. As a result, in 
the case of these excessively long ships, if their engines 
should accidentally have broken down, the amount of 
canvas they could have spread would not have mate- 
rially helped them ; indeed, it would scarcely have given 
them steerage way. The twin screw, therefore, afforded 
the opportunity for discarding masts and sails alto- 
gether. In a ship fitted with twin screws it is ex- 
tremely unlikely that both propellers and both sets of 
engines and boilers will break down at one and the. 
same time, and the ship, although of course capable 
of less speed, is yet perfectly safe, and is still under 
absolute control so long as one propeller is working. 
Under these circumstances the Board of Trade do 
not require vessels fitted with tAvin screws to carry 
masts and canvas, so that now a great number of ocean 
steamers have merely light pole masts for signalling 
purposes, and for use as derricks in loading and dis- 
charging cargo. This is a practical and a common- 
sense arrangement, the vessel being now treated as — 
what she really is intended to be — a vessel propelled 
by steam, and not a sailing-ship fitted with steam- 
power. 



The following interesting statistics have been 
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3 



TllK BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 425 



Table No. III. — Vessels under Construction, exclusive of 

Warships. 

From the Returns compiled by Lloyd's Register of Shipping, it 
appears that, excluding war^ihips, there were 558 vessels of 1,347,549 
tons gross under construction in the United Kingdom at the close 
of tlie quarter ended 3otli Septeml)er 1899. 'I'he [larticulars of the 
vessels in (piestion are as follows, similar details being given for the 
corresponding periods in 1875 and 1898 for the purpose of com- 
parison : — 



Description. 


30th September 
1899. 


30th September 
1898. 


30th September 
1875- 


No. 


Gross 
Tonnage. 


No. 


Gross 
Tonnage. 


No. 


Gross 
Tonnage. 


Steam. 

Steel 

Iron 

Wood and Composite 

Total .... 


471 
61 

I 

533 
9 

25 


1,331.215 

ir,o6o 

no 


519 

51 

2 


1.352.547 

8,869 

141 


126 
6 


157,466 
1,065 


1.342,385 


572 


1.361,557 


132 


158,531 


Sail. 

Steel 

Iron ....... 

Wood and Composite 

Total .... 


3.620 
1.544 


8 
"I'S 


1,020 
1,673 


114 
203 


106,521 
51,122 


5.164 


26 


2,693 317 157,643 


Total Steam and Sail . 


558 


1.347.549 


598 


1,364,250 449 316,174 

1 



To man this very large number of British merchant 
ships considerably more than a quarter of a million 
men and boys are employed, divided into two distinct 
sections : deck hands, or the actual mariners, and the 
engine-room crews, consisting of engineers and stokers 
or firemen. The deck hands, or navigating crew, 
broadly are divided into two classes — the officers and 
the men — but these two classes, to a certain extent, 
overlap each other, as the foremast hand of to-day 
may possibly become an officer in the future, whilst 
an unsuccessful or an unfortunate officer may have to 
ship again as a hand before the mast. The men, 
again, are divided, or are supposed to be divided, into 
two distinct classes — the A.B.s (able-bodied seamen) 



426 GENERAL 

and O.S. (ordinary seamen). An able seaman should 
be able to " hand," " reef," and " steer " : that is to say, 
he should be able to set, take in, and secure the sails, 
and to reef them ; and he should also be able to steer. 
Besides these things he should be capable of perform- 
ing all the handicraft work connected with the ship's 
sails, and with the standing and running rigging ; he 
should know how to use the lead, and should under- 
stand all the ordinary duties of a seaman. 

As some previous experience is necessarily required 
for the proper performance of these various duties, the 
Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 enacts that "a seaman 
shall not be entitled to the rating of A.B. — that is to 
say, to the rating of an able-bodied seaman — unless he 
has served at sea for four years before the mast " ; but 
this clause of the Act has rarely been acted upon, and 
has now become practically a dead letter, with the 
result that numbers of men now call themselves A.B.s, 
and ship as such, who are in every respect totally un- 
qualified. From figures supplied by the Chamber of 
Shipping, the total number of seamen afloat in British 
ships is, in round numbers, 235,000, of whom 80,000 
are, or are supposed to be, A.B.s ; but no less than 
27,000 of these A.B.s are foreigners, leaving the total 
number of British A.B.s as 53,000, a very large pro- 
portion of whom are quite untrained, and are more or 
less incompetent. Of British A.B.s with four years 
service at sea there are at present certainly not more 
than 26,000. 

An Ordinary seaman is simply a mariner, and he 
may be good, bad, or indifferent. He may have been 
at sea for a year or two, or he may have been afloat 
only since the day before yesterday. Any one, in fact, 
who takes a fancy to go to sea may call himself an 
" ordinary seaman," and there is nothing, so far as the 
law is concerned, to prevent any landsman, if he can 
get a mate to take him, turning sail(»r, and shipping as 



THE BRlTLSli MEllCANTILE MARINE 427 

an " ordinary seaman " ; and then after a voyage to 
Sydney and back he may, if he chooses, " sign on," the 
Merchant Shipping Act notwithstanding, as A.B., and 
so help to swell the number of the untrained and the 
incompetent. 

Much has been said, more particularly of late, as 
to the increasing number of foreigners now employed 
on board British merchant ships, and various proposals 
have been made with a view to invoking legislation on 
the subject, but it is extremely unlikely that, in a 
free-trade country such as England, the policy of 
bolstering up a declining industry by measures of pro- 
tection will ever be permitted. Undoubtedly this is a 
question of the survival of the fittest, and if foreigners, 
who are at all events in some respects quite as good 
sailors as English seamen, and who do not get drunk 
to anything like the extent that English seamen do, 
are willing to work for less money than English sea- 
men will, small blame to the shipowners for taking 
them. There is a great deal of nonsense talked and 
written about the " British tar," but the fact is that all 
the Scandinavian nations produce excellent seamen, 
and for certain kinds of work very few English sea- 
men can beat the Lascars. All the Peninsular and 
Oriental ships arc manned by Lascars, and for the 
particular kind of work required of them on board 
these steamers they are quite as good as English sea- 
men. For work aloft — for taking in topsails in a gale 
of wind — the Lascar is not of nuich use, but for all 
deck work no one is better, and he is always sober and 
always civil. If British mercantile Jack wants to keep 
his place on board British ships he must give the 
public-house a very much wider berth than he docs at 
present, and he must take more than one leaf out of 
the " Dutchman's " book. Then we shall see, and not 
till then, what we should all like to sec, namely, 
British ships manned by British sailors ; but most 



42 8 GENERAL 

assuredly no amount of protection is going to 
do it. 

A good deal lias lately been written on the subject 
of undermanning in the British Mercantile Marine 
and there is no doubt that excessive competition has, 
in the shipping industry as in all other industries, so cut 
do^vn profits that no shipowner can now afford to put 
even one man more than is absolutely necessary on 
board his ship. Most nautical authorities are, however, 
agreed that British merchant ships are at least as well 
manned as the merchant ships of other nations, and 
very much better than many foreign ships — notably 
American and Norwegian vessels. 

There is one particular point connected with the 
merchant service that presents very serious difficulties, 
and about which opinions are very much divided, and 
that is the proper training of boys for the mercantile 
navy. Previous to the repeal of the Navigation Laws 
in 1849, it was compulsory for every vessel to carry a 
certain number of apprentices, according to her tonnage; 
and for every apprentice that the ship was deficient a 
substantial fine was imposed. Since the repeal of the 
Navigation Laws, when the carrying of apprentices 
ceased to be any longer compulsory, the number of 
apprentices has, year by year, steadily declined. In 
1848, the number of apprentices enrolled was i 5,704 ; 
since that year the numbers have gradually dimi- 
nished, and since 1890 the annual number has never 
exceeded 2200. In the old time numbers of the 
poorer class of boys were apprenticed to the sea 
service by Boards of Guardians, and others, with 
the ultimate aim and object of the boys becoming 
A.B.s, and nothing more. At the present time, when 
a boy is apprenticed it is usually with a view to 
liis iihimately becoming an officer; the poorer lad, on 
the other hand, now generally shipping as " boy," and 
after he has been a year or so at sea becoming an 



THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE 429 

ordinary seaman, and after that an A.B. A great work 
has been done in this matter by the pnbHc spirit of the 
Liverpool shipowners in establishing the training-sliip 
IndefatigaUe, Avliich in thirty-four years has prepared 
upwards of 2300 boys for the sea. A similar Avork 
has been done by a London Poor-Law Authority, the 
Metropolitan Asylums Board, in their training-ship 
Exmouth, moored in the Thames off" Grays, and Avhich 
in tAventy-three years has sent no less than 4200 boys 
into the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Marine ; the 
bulk, however, going to the navy, a certain amount of 
pressure being brought to bear on the ])oys Avitli that 
particular object. 

The present treatment of apprentices, and appren- 
tices Avhose friends have paid premiums, has doubtless 
much to do with the falling off in the number under 
indentures. In the majority of ships where apprentices 
are noAv carried, they are carried merely as a cheap 
way of getting hands, and no pains at all are taken to 
teach the boys their profession. The apprentice, accord- 
ing to the advertisements, is " to be berthed apart from 
the crCAV," " will be taught navigation," and " have the 
same food as the officers." But Avliat are the real hard 
facts of the case ? The apprentices, in the ordinary 
run of sailing-ships, arc treated precisely as the hands 
— neither better nor Avorse. They have probably a 
deck-house, but it is as often as not shared Avith the 
carpenter or the sailmaker, and their Avork is with, and 
the same as, that of the men. As to the apprentice 
being properl}^ taught his profession, so long as he 
tars or greases doAvn Avith the rest, or chips rust in the 
fore-peak, or slung over the side does his share of the 
painting, or properly cleans the ship's lamps or the 
l»rass-Avork on the poop, or cleans out the pig-sties 
and closets, not one skipper in twenty ever troubles 
his head about liini. This miserable treatment of 
apprentices naturally results in a number of high- 



430 GENERAL 

spirited lads, after one voyage, throwing the whole 
thing up in disgust and taking to something ashore ; 
while many of those who remain among such sur- 
roundings sink down in the social scale, and under the 
present wretched system make coarse, foul-mouthed, 
bullying men ; the ultimate residuum that make really 
good seamen and gentlemanly officers being, unfortu- ■ 
nately, but a very small percentage of the entire number 
of those who originally joined the service. 

There are, of course, the two admirable training- 
ships for lads who intend to become officers in the 
Mercantile Marine — the Worcester, in the Thames, and 
the Comcay, in the Mersey — and there are also the 
two large and splendid sailing-ships which owe their 
existence in a great measure to the exertions of Lord 
Brassey — the Hesperus and the Macquarrie — each of 
which carries a number of young gentlemen as first- 
class cadets, besides taking a certain number of appren- 
tices. But all these are, to some extent, expensive, 
and arc therefore out of the reach of many parents 
who have several sons to provide for ; so that without 
any doubt the great majority of boys who are appren- 
ticed go straight to sea, and too frequently receive but 
a very indifferent training for their future career. 

Besides the seamen, we have in steamships a totally 
distinct class of men — the engine-room crew, consist- 
ing of the engineers, the firemen or stokers, and the 
coal-trinuners, whose duty it is to attend to the engines, 
the boilers, and the furnaces. Until the year 1862, 
the law had in no way interfered with, or controlled, 
this part of the ship's company, and the appointment 
and the position of the engineers was entirely depen- 
dent u[)on the will and pleasure of the owners, who 
were perfectly free to employ any one wliom they 
might think fit. Now, before any man is allowed to be 
entrusted with the charge of valuable machinery, and 
ill a secondary degree with the safety of the ship and 



TllK niUTlSH MERCANTILE MARINE 431 

the lives of those on board, ho must successfully have 
passed a very thorough Board of Trade examination, 
and have obtained the proper Board of Trade certifi- 
cate ; the first four or five years of his professional life 
having been already passed ashore in an engine shop 
or a factory. The stokers and the coal-trimmers, 
who are labourers rather than mechanics, are for the 
most part drawn from shore labourers, loafers, and the 
like ; but their ranks are, to a certain extent, recruited 
from men of the seamen class, who are often tempted 
by the higher wages that stokers receive, to forsake 
the deck for the stokehold. 

The officers in the merchant service are the 
Second mate, the Chief mate, and the Master. Many 
ships, however, carry a third mate, and the great 
liners frequently a fourth and even a fifth mate ; but 
the law recognises, besides the Master, only the Chief 
mate and the Second mate, certificates for each of 
which grades are provided by the Marine Department 
of the Board of Trade. When a lad has been four 
years at sea, whether as an apprentice or merely as an 
ordinary "boy," he is competent to present himself to 
the examiners of the Board of Trade and to pass for 
Second mate, the examination being a fairly stiff one, 
embracing navigation and seamanship, including the 
Rule of the Road and other kindred subjects. Having 
obtained his Second mate's certificate, if he be fortu- 
nate enough to obtain employment as a Second mate, 
with the command of a Avatch, at the expiration of a 
year he may go up for his Chief mate's certificate, 
passing another examination very similar to the 
previous one, except that it is very considerably 
stilTer. If he successfully passes this examination 
and obtains his certificate he may take the position 
of a Chief mate, which he must occupy for at least a 
year before he can go up to pass for Master. 

A Chief mate occupies a very arduous and a very 



43 2 GENERAL 

responsible position on board a ship. He is the re- 
presentative in everything of the Master, Avho intimates 
to him what he wishes to have done, and then leaves 
it to the Mate to carry it out. The Mate engages the 
creAv, superintends the stowing, the safe keeping, and 
the delivery of the cargo — seeing that the tallying-out 
corresponds with the tallying-in, and not infrequently 
having to pay for any deficiency— and he is responsible 
for anything and everything about the ship, from a 
rope-yarn to an anchor. By law he is the successor 
to the Master — that is to say, should the Master die 
during the voyage the command of the ship legally 
devolves upon the Chief mate ; and that he should be 
competent to fill that position is one of the objects of 
the Board of Trade examination and of the certificate. 

The Master — by courtesy the " Captain," with the 
sailors universally, whatever his age, " the old man " 
and familiarly the " Skipper " — is lord paramount, 
absolutely an autocrat on board his own ship. His 
word is law, which nobody must dispute and which 
permits of no argument. He must be obeyed in 
everything without a question, even by his first officer. 
He stands no watch, comes and goes when he pleases, 
and is accountable to no one except to his owners. 
He has entire control of the discipline of the ship, and 
has to be informed of everything of importance that 
takes place on board ; and such things as descrying a 
sail, a light, or land, or the sudden shoaling of the 
water, or signs of any change in the weather, or in the 
direction of the wind must be instantly reported to the 
Master. He must possess a sufficient knowledge of 
what he is required to do by law, as to entry and 
discharge and the management of his crew ; he must 
have a knowledge of invoices, charter-party, bills of 
lading, and, indeed, of everything pertaining to the 
business relations of the ship. In everything tho 
Master represents the owners, and very frequently has 



THE BRITISH MERCANTFLI^] MARINE 433 

to arrange for cargo, to decide questions of freight, and 
sometimes, if not in telegraphic communication with 
the owners, actually to settle the future destination of 
the ship. His position, therefore, is one of very con- 
siderable responsibility. The Board of Trade certificate 
for Master is, of course, precisely the same whether it 
be in the case of the Master of the ordinary tramp or 
of the Peninsular and Oriental mail steamer; but the 
social positions of the owners of the certificates are 
as wide asunder as the poles. Still, whether it be in 
the polished gentleman who commands the great mail 
steamer or in the rough-and-ready skipper of the little 
five-hundred-ton barque, equally shall we find the skil- 
ful navigator and the sturdy and the experienced sea- 
man who has always rendered conspicuous the annals 
of the British Mercantile Marine. 



2 E 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE AND ITS 
DEVELOPMENT^ 

By T. B. browning, M.A. 

[Of the Canadian Bar) 

The magnitude of the trade of the Empire, its wealth 
and adequate defence, are now commonplaces in 
poHtics, and are held, in almost equal estimation, by 
Conservatives and Unionists, by Liberals and Radicals. 
I wish to call attention to a phase of the subject that 
is rising into importance, and has already made its 
appearance in Parliament ; that bears within it, I 
believe, the destiny of the Empire, and bids fair to be 
the question of the immediate future. You may call 
it the internal group trade of the Empire. While it 
does not exclude but rather promotes commercial 
relations with foreign peoples, it lays special stress 
upon the interchange of the United Kingdom with 
the Colonies in the widest sense of that term, of the 
Colonies with each other, and the moans of developing 
that world-wide commerce. The subject has many 
ramifications, and my space is limited. I, therefore, 
take three points only, points from which, as from 
different pinnacles, one may obtain, I will not say a 
detailed, but a comprehensive and, for practical pur- 
poses, an accurate view of the vast landscape. The 
first is. What is the general nature or character of 
Intcr-British trade as it now exists ? The second is, 

' The above article, which appeared in "Sell's Dictionary of 
tlic World's I'ress" for 1899, and is here rej)rintcd with tho kind 
permission of the proprietor of that annual, has been revised for this 
publication. October i, 1900. — T. B. B. 

434 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 435 

What is the economic principle which at once under- 
lies and sfoverns the trade ? The third deals with 
special means whereby the principle may be applied 
to the common benefit of all parts of her Majesty's 
dominions. 



I. — The Character of Inter-British Trade. 

I . In the first place, let us call to mind what is 
the relative standing of the chief trading connmmities 
in the world. The most comprehensive and detailed 
tables I find on this question are those of Herr 
Sundbiirg, Actuary of the Government Statistical 
Department at Stockholm. They cover the years 
from 1 87 1 to 1895, are divided into periods of five 
years each, and give the annual average of each prin- 
cipal country for each period. Assuming the test of 
value to be sufficient for our purposes, and restricting 
ourselves to the last quinquennial period, the commerce 
of nations stands as follows : ^ — 



(i) Great Britain and Ireland 

(2) British Colonies and Dependencies . 

(3) (jermany ...... 

(4) United States of America 

(5) France 



^589,166,666 
404,249,999 

347,333)333 
296,833,333 



The trade of this country last year, import and 
export, according to the revised figures just published, 
was ;^8 14,570,241 against £764,558,690 in 1898. 
The returns for the British Possessions in the year 
last-named was i^5 55,647,369,-' including gold and 
silver bullion, which is a product of the Colonies in 
the same sense as tin, copper, wheat are products. In 
a very interesting article in the Cuntcmporarii Review 
for March 1900, Mr. Michael G, Mulhall reviews 

' Compare tables 5 and 8 in Mr. Consul Constable's Report (1S98), 
No. 467. 

'- Stat. Abstract (Colonies), 1898, pp. 130-33. 



436 GENERAL 

the commerce of this country during the last forty 
years. Great Britain's trade with the principal 
communities for the decade 1 889-1898, was as 
folloAvs : — 

British Colonies as a whole . . . / 1,788, 000,000 

The United States 1,399,000,000 

Germany 824,000,000 

France 682,000,000 

Her interchange with the Colonies for the forty 
years was in millions ^^604 3 ; and with the United 
States, ^4192. Again, during the decade 1889-98, 
England boug^ht from the United States goods to the 
value of ;^ 1,0 1 9,000,000, and sold to that country goods 
to the value of i^3 80,000,000 only. During the same 
period her purchases from the Colonies reached 
^949,000,000, and her sales to ;6^8 3 9,000,000. The 
total trade, therefore, with which we propose to deal 
is, from an international point of view, the largest in 
the world; it is likewise the most important trade 
of this country. 

Now, what are the trade-factors of the Empire ? 
Here we may leave out of view a number of islands 
which, as they are situated in different parts of the 
world, scarcely lend themselves to geographical classifi- 
cation, and, as they are small in area and population, 
have no determining influeuce on the question of trade 
policy, no matter how important they may be for pur- 
poses of administration or how necessary they may be 
for offence and defence in modern conditions. On the 
other hand, we nmst add certain territories which are, 
strictly speaking, outside the Empire, because the 
administration of their trade is intimately bound up 
with our trade-policy. With these qualifications, the 
factors of Inter-British trade resolve themselves into 
geographical groups whose area and population are as 
follows : — 



INTER-BKITISII TRADE 



437 







Area in 


Pojiulutioii 


Groups. 




Square 


at last 






Miles. 


Census (1891) 


(i) European .... 




121,511 


38,037,029 


(2) North American 




3.49^,383 


5,031,173 


(3) Australasian .... 




3,173-198 


4,793,533 


(4) West Indian .... 




128,626 


1,666,933 


(5) South African 




707,449 


1,530,687 


Area. 1' 


upiilutioii. 






(rt) Transvaal . . ( 113,642 


769,000 


) 




(6) Orange Free State \ 48,326 


207,503 


161,968 


976,503 


(6) Indian Empire Group . 




964,993 


221,172,952 


(a) Native States . 




595,167 


66,050,479 


(7) Straits Settlements 




86,993 


4,378,767 


(8) Red Sea and Mediterranean . 




85,182 


434,474 


(0) Egypt .... 




394,240 


9,000,000 


(9) East and Central Africa Protectorates . 


1,500,000 


1 (.. 


(lo) West Africa Protectorates 




750,000 


■ 28,000,000 


(11) West Africa Colonies 




58,771 


1,647,000 


Total 




12, 221;, 481 


382,724,530 



I have compiled the table cliicfly from the data 
given in the Statistical Abstract (1897). For the 
reasons given, they differ somewhat from the results 
set forth in the " Statesman's Year-Book " for 1 900, 
which (p. xxvi) says that the Empire, considered in 
itself, contains 11,726,217 square miles, nearly one- 
fifth of the land-superficies of the earth, and that its 
population amounts to 385,782,293, a little more than 
one-fourth of the human family according to Wagner 
and Supan's estimate. 

A word in further explanation of the classification. 
Group ( I ) includes the British Islands, Man, the Chan- 
nel Islands, &c. In the second, I rank Canada and 
Newfoundland. The seven Australian Colonies and 
Tasmania, now the Commonwealth of Australia, New 
Zealand. Fiji, and the British part of New Guinea 
fall under the third. The fourth contains Hon- 
duras, Guiana, Jamaica, with twenty principal islands. 
Cape Colony and its dependencies, Natal and Rho- 
desia, make up the fifth. In the Straits Settle- 



438 GENERAL 

ments Group I have included, besides the place 
of that name, Ceylon, which some might rank with 
the Indian Empire, Labuan, North Borneo, and Hong 
Kong without its recent accession, the population of 
which is not yet definitely ascertained. Under the 
eighth group fall the Somali Protectorate, Aden, 
Cyprus, Malta, and Gibraltar, Numbers (9) and (10) 
are under the administration for the most part of 
companies, and call for no special remark in this 
place. Again, I have ranked the Orange Free State 
and the Transvaal in group (5). They were incorpo- 
rated into the Empire this year by Lord Roberts' 
Proclamations. Notwithstanding recent troubles, the 
same commercial forces which brought together 
the fiercely contending provinces of Upper and Lower 
Canada in 1841 will, no doubt, in time amalga- 
mate all South Afi'ica for the purposes of traffic, 
if not otherwise. I have reckoned the Feudatory 
States of India with the British Provinces. These 
States are not British property, but are subject to 
British over-rule. Their status is very similar to that 
of the States formerly subject to the Roman Empire 
along the Mediterranean and in the East. Any way 
their external trade is in British hands. A some- 
what formidable objection may be taken to the in- 
clusion of Egypt in the Red Sea group. England's 
rights in, to, or over Egypt may be difficult of de- 
finition in accepted terms of international law, but 
her rights in respect of trade and finance arc definite, 
effective, and predominant. That is sufficient for us. 
So long as the control continues, the land of the 
Pharaohs may not unfairly be considered to I'all within 
tlic scope of the Empire in its commercial aspect. Is 
the valley of the Yang-tze-Kiang to be the next 
accession ? 

2. The same abstract enables us to find what are 
the exports and imports of each group, tliat is, the 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 



439 



amount and volume of its foreign trade. In the 
folio winjif table I set in one column the returns of 
foreign trade for several independent nations in terms 
of total value for 1896, and, in the other, the returns 
for the same year for several British Empire groups. 
I omit group ( i ) because its trade is beyond compari- 
son. I also exclude Egypt and its group with East 
and West Africa, because they are secondary and not 
primary factors within the Empire. With these de- 
ductions we may get a fair general average. The first 
part is taken from pages 29 and 34 of the Statistical 
Abstract for the Colonies, 1 898 ; the second from the 
"Statesman's Year-Book" for i 899 : — 



I. British Empire Groups. 
Indian Empire Group 


Total Trade. 
1896. 
. ^198,221,513 


Austi'alasian Group .... 


130,097,124 


North American Group 


51,729,536 


Straits Settlements Group . 


56,011,170 


South African Group .... 


39,872,223 


West Indian Group .... 


14,930,883 


Total . 


. i;49o,862,449 


Average 


. ^81,810,408 


II. Foreign States. 

Russian Empire 


Total Trade. 

1896. 
. ;{;2i3,ii9,375 


Italy 


112,409,876 


Spain ...... 


68,731,085 


Japan 


57,503,446 


Denmark ...... 


37,100,000 


Sweden 


36,429,141 


Norway 


21,554,980 


Portugal 


15,710,000 


Total . 


• ^562,557,903 


Average 


• £70,3^9^3^ 



The return for the Indian Empire is exceeded only by 
nations of the first class, as the German Empire, France, 
the United States. The trade of the West Indies, the 



440 GENERAL 

smallest in the list, exceeds that of Greece, Bulgaria, 
Roumania, not to mention South American Republics. 
The average commerce of a British Empire group on 
these jfigures amounts to i5^8 1,810,408, and the average 
for the independent States enumerated is ;^70,3i9,738. 
These States were selected because they were consi- 
dered to be fairly representative. On the whole, there- 
fore, one may say, without straining the argument, 
that the trade of the several British Empire groups 
attains international proportions, and compares favour- 
ably with that of kingdoms of the second rank. 

3. Now take a globe or Mercator's projection and 
follow the groups aroiuid the world ; from England to 
the West Indies, from the West Indies to Canada, from 
Canada along the All-Britannic cable line to Austral- 
asia, from Australasia to the Straits Settlements, thence 
to India from Bombay, avoiding Egypt and the Pro- 
tectorates, to South Africa, and so homewards. You 
have completed the circuit of the globe. You have 
found the groups separated from each other by vast 
distances, varying from 2000 to 6000 miles. You 
liave found the groups themselves to be relatively 
compact, notwithstanding their vast areas. Now 
these are the natural or geographical conditions of an 
international trade : compactness within the group, 
distance between group and group. Professor Bast- 
able, speaking on this subject from the standpoint of 
this country, uses these words in his latest volume : 
" The trade between England and her Colonies is un- 
doubtedly international." ^ The argument is, if possible, 
still stronger for us because we take the standpoint, 
not (^f a group, no matter how great it be, but of the 
whole Empire. Our query, then, what is the character 
of Inter-British trade, might seem to be answered. 
It is an international trade. 

4. But, the Professor adds, "in all cases, the political 

' "The Theory of International Trade," p. 11, note. 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 441 

element is, to some extent, to be found." In many 
cases the political element determines tlie situation. 
What is its operation on our Empire Groups ? It re- 
inforces their natural or geographical condition. They 
are, or are becoming, political units. The United 
Kingdom is one since 1801, and her solidarity for 
purposes of trade is growing greater year by year. 
India is practically one. British North America is 
federated except as to Newfoundland, and her accession 
to the Dominion is a question of terms and is imminent. 
Au^stralia has completed her scheme of union which 
the necessities of the situation will, no doubt, extend 
to the Australasian group. The Straits Settlements is 
already the centre of a considerable Confederacy whose 
circumference is rapidly widening. The progress of 
events is less marked in the West Indies, There are 
many causes for it, and many remedies are suggested 
for her almost desperate condition. I do not wish to 
enter into the discussion, but this point is clear ; her 
many and highly-salaried governors, her isolated and 
costly administrations, her high and mutually hostile 
tariffs must go, and some substantial measure of con- 
solidation be introduced. The same forces which 
unified Canada, which are now unifying Australia, in 
great measure trade-forces, are at work, and may be 
expected to produce the same result in the West 
Indies. South Africa, also, has many difficulties to 
overcome, but she is cognisant of them, and her 
Customs-Union is an earnest of better things. Leaving 
aside the Red Sea Group and the Protectorates and 
viewing the subject broadly, one may say then that the 
movement of the Empire is towards aggregation in 
large masses around local centres far removed one 
from another. In other words, the political element is 
intensifying the international or group-character of 
inter-British trade. 

The consideration of mass is almost as important 



442 GENERAL 

in politics and commerce as it is in physics. It is hard 
for us to realise the actual magnitude and significance 
of the local masses of the Empire, whether for trade 
or otherwise. I have already given some figures, but 
figures when they mount to millions and become 
familiar cease to carry with them any definite con- 
ception. By Avay of illustration, let me refer to the 
current discussions on Imperial Federation. The most 
advanced of these that have come to my notice picture 
a combination of the Mother Country and the Colonies 
somewhat on the scale of the United States. The 
political union of 70,000,000 of people, a territorial 
jurisdiction that embraces 3,000,000 of square miles, 
is no doubt a vast achievement and is worthily held 
up as an object for emulation. The advantage which 
commerce ofains under these conditions is obvious. 
But, in the purview of the British Empire, the forma- 
tion of a United States, or a series of them, does not 
approach the dignity of an Imperial question ; it is 
distinctly local. When Canada excogitated her plan 
of union in 1867, she had as large a population as the 
United States possessed at the adoption of the present 
constitution. The Dominion has to - day a vaster 
territory than her neighbour. The merits or demerits 
of her federation-scheme was, and was deemed to be, 
a question primarily for her. No British statesman 
interfered with Australia in the construction of her 
Commonwealth which will be the United States of the 
far south. Only one clause of the bill was questioned 
— the appeal clause. Here the interests of the Empire 
as a whole were directly affected. The negotiations 
resulted in a compromise so far forth as concerns the 
Commonwealth Act. On the other hand, the Govern- 
ment of the United Kingdom has undertaken to 
establish one appeal tribunal for all parts of the 
Empire. In like manner South Africa and the West 
Indies have their destinies in their own hands. The 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 443 

same remark may apply to the Straits Settlements and 
to India, though in a lesser degree. When Iinperial 
Federation, then, arises or demands treatment, the 
problem will not be how to organise a United States 
from primary elements, but a problem on a far vaster 
scale, how to weld into one dominion in addition to the 
United Kingdom and India, five or six, it may be seven 
or eight, combinations of the rank of the American 
Union. It will be a new problem in the world's 
history, a new problem in the Avorld of commerce. To 
put the same view in another form, it will be the con- 
solidation, as it were, of so many Europes, in each of 
which first-class Powers as Germany, France, Austria, 
in respect of territory, will rank as provinces. The 
foundations for that time are being laid, and laid 
solidly. I have no doubt the fitting superstructure will 
arise in due course, for the British peoples are seldom 
wanting to the exigencies of their day. But, meantime, 
its precursor is trade, and our views of inter-British 
trade should expand to meet the conditions of the 
present and immediate future. 

5. The practice and policy of England in regard to 
Colonial tariffs are in accord with the geographical, 
international, or, as I would prefer to say, the group- 
situation. The self-governing Colonies are naturally 
the test on this phase of the question. Canada and 
Australia, Natal and Newfoundland, Cape Colony and 
New Zealand may regulate their taxation according 
to their own exitrencies or their own views of these 
exigencies. If, with the physiocrats of the last 
century, they think that a single tax is the least 
oppressive mode of raising revenue, and that land is 
the most proper object to be charged, they may make 
the experiment. They may assess income or leave it 
free. If they approve indirect taxation, as the majority 
of Colonies do, they may distribute their customs-duties 
over many articles, or limit them to narcotics. If they 



444 GENERAL 

are inclined to protection, incidental or explicit, the 
Empire is wider than the Cobden Club and is broad 
enough to give them scope. At the same time, it 
casts the responsibilities for their actions on their o'svn 
shoulders. The situation is international in the econo- 
mic sense of the word, and the communities to which it 
applies have under their control seven million square miles 
of territory, and are that portion of the Empire which 
is developing most rapidly in wealth and population. 

But it may be asked, Does the same rule apply to 
Protectorates, Crown Colonies, and India ? The essen- 
tial portion of it does. This country does not impose 
her tariff on her dominions oversea ; neither does she 
exact tribute or revenue from them. The recent cotton 
duties are a case in point in regard to India. They 
called forth a protest from Lancashire on the score 
of protection, but the late Government declined to 
intervene, and the late Parliament approved their 
abstinence. The present Government disallowed the 
particular duties, but consented to others in substitu- 
tion, which, whether they be better or worse, are no 
less protectionist. If one may gather the sense of the 
community from the declarations of the press, the 
general attitude of this country towards India might, 
I think, be expressed somewhat thus : that while broad 
questions of policy are properly subject to Parlia- 
mentary discretion, the experienced men, in whose 
hands is the actual administration of the great de- 
pendency, are in the best position to judge both as 
to the necessity and expediency of particular imposts. 
Crown Colonies are a late innovation in this Empire, 
and, I fear, an imhappy one. Some other machinery 
of government is eagerly desired, but meantime the 
scale of duties they impose is very greatly in the hands 
of local authorities. Their action may be supervised, 
hut is supervised not for the benefit of this country, 
but to meet more effectually the real or supposed 



INTER-BKITISll TKADI": 445 

requirements of the locality. If the Protectorates and 
Spheres of Influence be taken into account, we should 
remember that trade with them diifers, and, from the 
circumstances of the case, can differ in nothing from 
foreign trade with peoples in a low stage of civilisation, 
whether protected or unprotected. It is necessarily in- 
ternational in the broadest sense in which that term 
is used in political economy. 

6. Imperial practice goes still further. The general 
position is that a treaty with a foreign nation which is 
to bind a Colony shall be ratified by the colonial legis- 
lature. It has been exemplified time and again in the 
case of Canada and Newfoundland, and was officially 
declared by Lord Palmcrston in 1857. Such self- 
governing Colonies as may desire to enjoy the benefits 
of a treaty of commerce which her Majesty may con- 
clude with any Power, may enjoy them by making 
application through the proper channels. An enabling 
clause for the purpose is now generally included in 
treaties, as may be seen in any late volume of Hertslet's 
" Collection." Again, the power of a Colony to make 
commercial arrangements with outside nations, and 
the procedure in that case to be adopted, engaged the 
attention of the Colonial Conference at Ottawa in 
1894. Lord Ripon devotes a circular letter to the 
subject, which is dated 28th of June 1895. By de- 
spatch of the same date he deals with the ques- 
tion of differential trade - arrangements as between 
Colony and Colony. Now that all legislative restric- 
tions are removed by the Australian Colonies Duties 
Act, 1895 (58 and 59 Victoria, c. 3), the two sub- 
jects fall under the same rules. The identity of the 
rules is itself a striking evidence that the Empire 
admits of internationalism within its own bounds. 
Generally expressed, these rules are : " The strict 
observance of existing international obligations, and 
the preservation of the unity of the Empire." To 



446 GENERAL 

come to particulars, a Colony may, with the assent of 
her Majesty's Government and by means of her Am- 
bassador, with such assistance as may be thought 
needful, make trade-arrangements with a foreign State. 
Thus Canada concluded a treaty with France two or 
three years ago, and a Commission is appointed to 
deal with outstanding questions as between the United 
States and British North America, But no arrangement 
so made shall be allowed to go into operation which 
discriminates against the Mother Country or another 
Colony, or injuriously affects " the most favoured 
nation " standing of other States within the negotiating 
Colony. The Blaine-Bond Treaty between the United 
States and Newfoundland was disallowed on this ground 
at the instance of Canada. Similarly, tAvo or more 
Colonies may conclude commercial agreements, but 
they may not thereby prejudice the Mother Country, 
another Colony, or a foreign Power. In each case, 
and as the ultimate test of sovereignty, the Imperial 
Government reserves to itself the right of determining 
what is discrimination, what is prejudice. There is no 
substantial disagreement on the question between Lord 
Ripon and the Ottawa Conference, between parties in 
the Colonies or parties in this country. His lordship's 
statement of principles is accepted, and marks an epoch 
in the evolution of the Empire, for two reasons: be- 
cause (i) it sums up the Empire's policy and practice 
in regard to (a) the Colonial groups, (b) their mutual 
trade-relations, and (c) their relations to external govern- 
ments; and (2) because it sets forth explicitly the 
])rinciples that now govern and are to obtain in future. 
Tlieso principles consecrate on one side the essential 
element of inter-British union, and, by giving free play 
to local activities upon the other, they preserve the 
international character of inter-British trade. 

7. Some persons fear to look on the commercial 
system of the Empire as it exists, because they think it 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 447 

tends to dissolution ; and thoy dato the process of 
disinte<rration I'roin the inconiintj: of free trade in 
England. They forget two facts. They forget that 
the Empire in its vastness, the Empire as it was 
exhibited at the Jubilee, is essentially modern. One 
may almost say that it is the creation of her Majesty's 
reign. It matters little from what year you count the 
introduction of free trade, from the end of the second 
Peel administration or from its beginning, from 1846 
or 1842 ; or whether, as seems to me more proper, you 
go back to 1823, the date when Huskisson first 
assumed the post of President of the Board of Trade, 
upon whose fiscal measures Sir H. Parnell foimded his 
" Financial Reform " and, with wonderful prescience, 
forecast the course of English trade-policy ; which- 
ever time you prefer, it was the day of small things in 
so far as concerns the Colonies. India was under the 
rule of a company. The West Indies were isolated 
and unimportant. Canada was little noted except for 
the disturbances she created or might at any moment 
occasion. The Cape was a conquest with a small 
Dutch population, a half-way station to India, and 
Australasia was valued chioHy as a convict compound. 
Statesmen of both parties talked familiarly of " those 
wretched Colonies," and asked each other how they 
might get rid of them. In none were the native 
energies called forth or the native resources developed. 
The era of colonial activity, of colonial expansion, had 
not begun, or was only beginning. The necessities 
which call so loudly to-day for some scheme of union, 
some plan of welding the Empire together, of consoli- 
dating the British peoples in all parts of the world, had 
not arisen. 

They forgot likewise that England's colonial policy 
is not a thing of late date. While its modern develop- 
ments have been great and rapid, its main features are 
of venerable aspect. You can draw no sharp division- 



448 GENERAL 

line between her practice of to-day and her practice in 
former years. The proper contrast lies, not as between 
two systems of English policy, but between the system 
of France on the one hand and the system of England 
on the other, as well in the centuries that are past as 
in the century that now is. 

A French Colony may to-day have municipalities, 
communes, syndics, and may enjoy representation in 
the National Assemblies ; but otherwise its government 
follows the model formulated by Louis XIV. Thus 
the cost of military services within the Colony is 
defrayed by the Metropolis. Canada bore the expenses 
of her North-West Expedition just as the old Thirteen 
Colonies were accustomed to wage war with the 
Abenikis and pay its cost. South Africa and New 
Zealand have knowledge of the same responsibility 
and of the privileges it confers. The civil officers of 
a French Colony are appointed by the central govern- 
ment, and its administration is moulded on the formula 
and proceeds according to the same rules as the internal 
administration of the Republic. The present Colonial 
Minister might copy verhatim Colbert's directions to 
Frontenac and send them to Algeria : " Vous devez 
toujours suivre dans la gouvernement et la conduite 
do ce pays-la les formes qui se pratiquent ici." ^ The 
budget of the Colony is framed in France, and is 
governed by the policy and exigencies of the Mother 
Country. The Governor-General of Algeria and his 
Council have no more power over the local tariff than 
had the Governor-General of New France and his 
Council. Even local taxation for purposes civil is 
su))plomcnted by metropolitan subsidies. Warburton 
tcills us that the revenue of New Franco, immediately 
before the last war (1756), amounted to ^14,000, and 
that its supplement from the King's treasury, apart 
from military expenditure, was ^4670. The Colonial 
' Lareau, " Hist, du Droit Can.," tome i. p. 233. 



INTER-BRITLSH TRADE 449 

civil list imposes on France to-day a burden of 
89,768,262 francs.^ You do not find anything similar 
to this in English history. The author of " Les 
Colonies Francaises Illustrecs " sums up the general 
situation when, speaking of Algeria, he says : " Elle ne 
constitue pas un etat ayant son gouvernement propre, 
son autonomic ; elle fait partie de la France " (p. 60). 
Even M. Rameau, who is thoroughly cognisant of the 
failure of French colonisation in the past, cannot raise 
himself out of the trammels of officialism and depen- 
dence. In his book on " France aux Colonies," he 
undertakes to suggest means of better success, but his 
suggestions arc confined to increased home expenditure, 
State deportation of settlers, trade-preferences. From 
end to end of the French method there is no provision 
for local eftbrt, local initiative, self-help, self-taxation, 
self-development ; the Colony must adapt itself not to 
its immediate environment, but to the conditions of the 
Mother Country. To-day, as tAvo centuries ago, " il 
n'est pas memo permis aux habitans des Colonies de 
s'im poser eux memes " ; " c'est un droit de souverainet^ 
que Sa Majeste ne communique k personne.""" A 
century and a half of preferences and subsidies on the 
one side, and administrative uniformity on the other, 
left French Canada with a population of only 65,000 
persons, including enfranchised Indians, in i 763, a date 
when the old Thirteen Colonies of England numbered 
nearly 3,000,000 of inhabitants. Under substantially 
the same form of rule, the French Colonies of to-day — 
Algeria, Reunion, Guadaloupe, Martinique, Tonquin, &c. 
— have less than 900,000 French subjects, including 
naturalised citizens, but excluding indigenous tribes.^ 
European subjects in the present English Colonies 
number 12,000,000 in round numbers. 

1 "Statesman's Year-Book," 1900, p. 525. 

2 Lareau, " Hist, du Droit Can.," tome i. p. 358. 
^ "Statesman's Year-Book." 1S95, p. 511. 

V 2 J^ 



450 GENERAL 

The American Revolution is sometimes said to cut 
English colonial histoiy into two periods. But in 
neither period did any Colony form a part of the 
" realm of England " in the legal acceptation of that 
term — a part of the state, to use the French word. 
The early charters may appear defective in constitu- 
tional machinery, but express provisions were made for 
their liberal interpretation, and the legal officers of the 
day knew well that, while the patents were granted for 
the regulation of trading companies, they were applied 
to the government of peoples. The new settlements 
moulded, and were allowed to mould, themselves after 
the British pattern, and soon there appeared a single 
executive, a legislature of two branches, and a judiciary 
more or less indejDcndent. Rhode Island was so well 
content with the powers of her charter that she retained 
it unaltered till the middle of this century. You may 
say that a limitation was placed on their legislative 
authority, that their laws should not be contrary to 
those of England ; but how was this a restraint upon 
the colonists ? Their chief desire was to realise the 
laws of England — the privileges of Englishmen — in 
their new homes. Aojain it is said that the Navigation 
Acts extended to them, and other taxing laws were 
passed by Parliament " for the regulation of their com- 
merce " ; what then ? Hutchinson tells us that there 
were no custom-houses in America for the collection of 
taxes till near the reign of Queen Annc.^ Grenville, 
writing at so late a date as 1765, says that the average 
amount of taxes collected yearly " in all the Colonies 
for thirty years is not above ;^I900, while it costs 
£7600 per annum to collect them." ^ The burden on 
the Colonies was not great. Their principal products, 
as fish and sugar, " were unenumcratcd," that is, did 
not come within the scope of the Navigation Laws. 

' " Hist, of Mass. Bay," ii. p. 447. 

" Regulations with Respect to the Colonies Considered, p. 57. 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 451 

Walpolc added timber to the list of exemptions, so 
that their commerce in staples Avas practically free. 
While the bulk of their transactions was necessarily 
with England, and did not offend against any restric- 
tion, they enlarged their foreign trade in " enumerated " 
articles by extensive smuggling, and were enabled to 
do so the more easily because that branch of their 
business was carried on by means of British capital. 
Professor Seeley says " the Colonial system hampered 
them but slightly," One might go further and say 
that in many respects it was a gain, and was so esteemed 
in New England ; for it kept the Dutch out of their 
carrying-trade, and fostei'ed their shipbuilding at no 
cost to them. But the chief point for us is this, that 
their power of self-taxation for internal administration 
and defence, for roads, bridges, and improvements gene- 
rally, was unrestrained, and became effective by increase 
of their wealth, their population, and their necessities. 
9. The great schism in the Empire which began so 
unfortunately and ended so disastrously in the last 
century does not particularly concern us here, because 
the present Colonies come under the " Supremacy Act " 
of 1778 (18 Geo. III. c. 12). Its provisions arc three. 
There is first a declaration that " the King and Parlia- 
ment of Great Britain will not impose any duty, tax, or 
assessment whatever, payable in any part of his 
Majesty's Colonies." This general position is limited 
by an exception : " except only such duties as it may 
be deemed expedient to impose for the regulation of 
commerce." It thus puts an end to the archaic con- 
ception of tribute, of a " revenue from America trans- 
ported hither," for the payment of Imperial liabilities 
without consent. The exception itself is limited by a 
proviso : " the net proceeds of such duties to be 
always paid and applied to and for the use of the 
Colony, Province, or Plantation in which the same 
shall be respectively levied, in such manner as other 



452 GENERAL 

duties, collected by the authority of the respective 
General Courts or General Assemblies of such Colonies, 
Provinces, or Plantations are ordinarily paid and 
applied." The proceeds of Imperial taxes raised in a 
Colony are thus subject to the disposition of the local 
authorities. These terms 'were acceptable to the 
" Loyalists," became the rule of government in British 
North America, and, had they been formulated earlier, 
might have averted the great disaster. They are not 
a new law, but a declaration of ancient practice. 

The declaratory Act did not restrict the self-taxing 
powers of the colonists. Thus, it was quite competent 
for Upper Canada, established under Pitt's Statute 
(1790), to raise the greater portion of her revenue by 
direct taxation. She was within her right also in 
levying duties on imports, no matter from Avhat part of 
the world the goods may have come, and notwithstand- 
ing the fact that they had already paid toll in New 
York. The Upper Province had no sea-board. The 
operation of Lnperial taxation may be seen more 
broadly in the history of Lower Canada, for there the 
Crown and Parliament entered on the full prerogatives 
of the French king. Till 1791 all imposts were 
Imperial; but, in inaugurating the new system the 
Governor, by instruction, informed the Assembly that 
the existing Acts would be repealed as soon as the 
House made suitable provision for their displacement. 
In fact, they were not repealed till the Union (1841), 
because (Ik; taxes imposed were equitable in the cir- 
cumstances of the country ; but they were added to, 
Tims the net revenue for 1791-92 was ^^5000, of 
which 100 per cent, was Imperial, l^y 181 i, the 
income had risen to ;^70,ooo, and the Imperial share 
had fallen to 1 8 per cent. It fell to 8 per cent, in 
1835, when the total taxation realised ;^ 150,000.^ 

' Cliristie's Hist, of L. C, vol. i. pp. 152, 164, 186, 212; vol. iv, 
p. 141. 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 453 

Agiiin, special taxation under Act of this country 
even " for the regulation of commerce " was quickly 
found to be a crude mode of procedure, and fell to the 
ground. A more effectual means to obtain the same 
end was discovered in the revising or disallowance 
power over colonial tariffs, which continued in more 
or less active use till after the union of the Canadas. 
As Great Britain sought no revenue from her Colonies, 
as the proceeds of taxation must be applied to local 
purposes, as the interests of trade did not depend on 
the Imperial taxing or revising power so much as on 
provincial good government, the framing of the tariff 
and the disposition of the revenues passed into colonial 
hands subject to a '■ permanent civil list." Again, as 
the list was not for Imperial purposes, but for the 
support of the Canadian administration, chiefly the 
judges, it was properly remitted to Canadian hands 
under responsible government. The " civil list " portion 
of the Union Act was repealed in 1846. By 1849 ^^^^ 
older theories of commerce and its regulation lost their 
hold on this country, the Navigation Laws and differ- 
ential arrangements were abolished, and colonial com- 
merce opened to the world on equal terms. Thus the 
power of taxation, originating in necessity in the 
English colonies and at first indefinite, developed step 
by step, covering first internal taxation, then external 
taxation, until of late years it has become exclusive 
and extends to all matters that affect commerce. The 
system of local trade-autonomy, established in its 
present form first in Canada, has become the natural 
incident of a self-governing Colony, and may now be 
said to be the rule of the Avhole P^mpire. 

I o. The broad distinction, then, between the colonial 
policy of France and the colonial policy of England is 
this. France has administered, and now administers, 
her Colonies as part of her home territory. She ignores, 
or endeavours to override, geographical conditions as 



454 



GENERAL 



well as economical theory ; hers is a fight at once 
against nature and science. England, on the other 
hand, to use the broad language of Viscount Bury, 
" always treated her Colonies on the same footing as 
foreign nations ; " ^ in other words, she has recognised 
their international standing, implicitly if not explicitly. 
It is worthy of note in this connection that the era of 
colonial prosperity and expansion dates, not from the 
incoming of Free Trade in England, but from 1859, 
when the policy I speak of was elaborated on both 
sides, in the Mother Country and the Colonies. It 
has since been marked with almost uninterrupted pro- 
gress except, probably, in Newfoundland and the West 
Indies,- whose conditions are peculiar. Mr. Mulhall 
draws up a minute of those portions of the outside 
Empire where the international principle is most de- 
veloped — Canada, Australasia, South Africa — and, treat- 
ing them as groups as we do, contrasts their position 
in 1873 with their position in 1893. I take from his 
interesting article the following table : — 





Population, 


Population, 




1873. 


1893. 


Australasia 


. 1,925,000 


4,070,000 


Canada . . . . 


. 3,830,000 


5,030,000 


South Africa . 


870,000 


2,210,000 


Totals 


. ;{;6,625,ooo 


^11,310,000 




Keveiiue, 1873. 


Uovoiiue, 1893, 


Australasia . 


. ;{^ 1 2,400,000 


;^28,200,000 


Canada . . . . 


4,300,000 


7,800,000 


South Africa . 


2,300,000 


6, 1 00,000 



Totals 



,^19,000,000 /"42, 1 00,000 



He adds : " In the hurly-burly of British politics, the 
incessant cares and occupations of everyday life, we 

' "Exodus of Western Nations," ii., c. 2, j). 32. 

^ See the following papers in tlu; " I'rilish Empire Series," vol. iii. : 
" Tlio West Indies: General," by Mrs. Ernest Hart; and " Newfound- 
land," by the writer of this puj)er. 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 455 

are apt to lose sight of the marvellous advancement of 
these three great Colonial settlements, which are in 
some respects without parallel in ancient or modern 
times." ^ 



II. — The Economic Principle and Degrees of 
Internationalism. 

II . I have dwelt thus far on the international 
character of Inter-British trade, not merely because 
the fact is frequently lost sight of, not merely because 
internationalism is the most prominent feature of 
Imperial commerce, but because it determines Avhat 
principle applies to the present situation, and provides 
us with a key to the practical problem, how may the 
trade be best developed ? Inasmuch as the trade- 
problem of the Empire is a problem of international 
trade, the theory to be applied to its solution is neces- 
sarily the international trade-theory. I purposely 
abstain here from a verification of the doctrine in a 
theoretical point of view ; the argument would lead us 
far afield. What I have to say upon it will appear in 
another form in the course of the article. Eor a full 
discussion of the questions involved, I must refer to 
the labours of Mill and Cairnes, Edgcworth and Bast- 
able. Probably Part III. of Professor Cairnes's 
" Political Economy " contains the most popular ex- 
position of the doctrine. Professor Bastable discusses 
its latest phases in his " Theory of International 
Trade." Those who desire mathematical proof with 
cases and deductions scientifically rigorous, would do 
well to consult Professor Edgeworth's articles on the 
subject in the Economic Journal for 1894, pages 35, 
424, 606. 

The general principle is well established. Inter- 

^ "Our Colonial Empire," Contemporanj Review (1895). '^'o'- l^^'"- 
p. 632. 



456 GENERAL 

national trade is an extended barter, the oldest form of 
traffic, and its basis is, in its main aspect, the anti- 
thesis of the basis of a domestic or strictly national 
trade. Thus, where Article A is produced in a civil 
community, a nation unified, a group consolidated, the 
exchange value of that article depends directly on the 
cost at which it is, or may be, produced in the domestic 
market. Whatever A be, whether coal or iron, boots 
or shoes, hats or caps, that statement holds good so 
long as the domestic market furnishes it. Inter- 
national trade is much more complicated. Here you 
must consider three points : ( i ) The cost of producing 
A in the home market — its exchange being represented 
by two terms; (2) the cost of producing in the foreign 
market the articles for which A is exchanged — the 
whole transaction being represented by at least four 
terms ; (3) the difference of these respective costs. 
To use Mr. Cairnes's nomenclature, domestic or national 
trade is governed by " cost of production," foreign or 
international trade by " comparative cost of produc- 
tion." The ultimate profit of the latter consists in the 
respective local advantages, original or acquired, in 
the accumulated results of these advantagfes, and in 
the enlarged means given for their utilisation. On 
the other hand, its development may depend on the 
removal of hindrances or the facilitatiuo: of intercourse. 
The difference between the two becomes practical when 
you ask the question. How shall Inter- British trade be 
furthered ? Shall it be on a national basis or on a 
basis international, in the view of economic science ? — 
along the lines of French policy, or upon those which 
we have seen to be English ? 

1 2. Trade-internationalism may admit of degrees. 
Thus, when the organisation of society was tribal, the 
trading unit was the blood - community, and tribe 
dealt with tribe in an international way. When many 
tribes were brought under the power of one ruler, trade 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 457 

did not cease at once to be international. In Western 
Europe, long after the tribal rc'gime bad given way to 
the territorial, we find the internal traffic of a political 
unit retain many characteristics of internationalism, 
for it was under the control of local sections, or 
in the hands of exclusive guilds and brotherhoods. 
If wo set aside for the moment the relations 
which this country and each of the colonial groups 
have with foreign peoples, there remain three phases of 
internationalism in the trade-problem of the Empire: — 

( 1 ) The relations of the British Islands with each 
of the colonial groups ; 

(2) The relations of the colonial groups one to 
another ; 

(3) The relations of each group to its parts. We 
shall take these in their reverse order, and consider 
them in connection with certain proposals which have 
been made to extend the commerce of the Empire, 
Customs-Union and differential tariffs. 

13. Tke Group in its Internal Relations. — I have 
spoken of the groups as quasi-nations on the European 
model. That conception is correct for these groups 
where the process of unification is complete, as the 
United Kingdom, India, Canada. It applies also, 
thouirh with less strictness, to the Straits Settlements, 
but it does not apply to Australasia. Until the Queen 
proclaims the Commonwealth, New South Wales, 
Victoria, Queensland, each of the Australian Colonies, 
with New Zealand, is an independent nation with 
taritt-control. The type, not for the whole group, but 
for each of its parts, is, therefore, France or Germany, 
Austria or Spain. In this light we may obtain a 
clearer view of their present position, and form a fairer 
conception of the work accomplished by Canada in 
1867, and Australia in 1900 — the conversion of many 
•nationalities into one, or the change of a nudtiple 
international trade into a unified trade of an Empire 



458 GENERAL 

group. The same problem confronts the West Indies. 
The conditions caUing for union are practically similar 
in the several cases. On the one hand, you have rela- 
tive contiguity of parts, approximately equal stages of 
development, together with the ties of common blood, 
common language, common constitutional methods, 
common allegiance ; in a word, common sovereignty. 
On the other hand, there is the waste of money and 
energy, the dissipation of force, involved in maintaining 
autonomous units that have outlived their usefulness 
in many ways, and have developed necessities which 
they are unable to cope with. Our cousins under the 
Southern Cross would fain have set up a Customs- 
Union to meet the new situation. But when the 
statutory obstacles to that experiment were removed, 
and the question was grappled with closely, they found, 
as Canada found in 1867, as the United States found 
in 1789, that the trade difficulty was the essential 
one ; that, unless it were overcome, a customs arrange- 
ment was not possible, and, if it were surmounted, none 
was needful, for a federal union followed as of course. 

The situation in South Africa is somewhat different, 
and, prior to the present war, suggested a Customs- 
Union. Her States were contiguous, their stages of de- 
velopment were approximately equal, the Avastefulness 
of hostile tariffs was mutually felt, but the element 
of connnon sovereignty was lacking. Her position, 
therefore, resembled in many respects the position 
of German European States at the date of their zoll- 
verein. As enlightenment spread, population increased 
and interests intertwined, it was expected that the 
feeble Customs-Union then existing might extend not 
to two or three but to all States, not to specified 
articles but to a common tariff. It might in time 
liave been the precursor of federation as in Germany. 
Its immediate advantages for those States which were 
wise enough to adopt it were: (i) economy in customs 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 459 

machinery ; (2) tariff imit'ormity over an extended 
area; (3) facility of intercourse within the group; 
(4) shght obstruction to intercourse beyond the 
group- area. 

14. We may anticipate the course of events, and 
assume that Austraha, Soutli Africa, and the West 
Indies are unified. What will the change be ? Canada 
affords the most recent example. Tariff-walls, which 
numbered seven in British North America, are done 
away, free intercourse is established from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific, and, instead of many frontiers, there 
is one which is coincident with the boundaries of the 
entire group. Within the new area, as within the old 
areas, the questions native to a national trade will arise 
and be debated. We may witness a revival of the 
controversy between free-trade and protection ; to what 
extent, if at all, internal production may be stimulated 
by external taxation ? Comimmities that under either 
system raise a large proportion of their revenues from 
imports cannot escape the question. Given an un- 
developed country suitable for manufactures, given 
power to adapt a tariff to local conditions, given a 
sufficient market, the fostering of industries by way 
of protection seems to follow naturally. The first 
systematic experiment of the kind on a large scale 
within the Colonial Empire was Sir Leonard Tilley's 
tariff of 1879. To what extent protection should 
go, how it should be applied, when it should begin, 
when it should cease, are points to be determined 
by the exigencies of the locality. Direct means of 
developing the resources of the whole group will 
likewise arise for consideration ; the facilitating of 
transit and comnuinication by railway and canal, by 
telegraph and telephone, by cable and steamboats ; 
utilisation of water- powers and mineral resources ; 
the fostering of agricultural interests by way of 
experimental farms and industrial processes by tech- 



46o GENERAL 

nical schools. Mining and fislieries call alike for 
scientific treatment. In applied chemistry the groups 
have much to learn from Germany; in farm enterprise 
from Denmark ; but, with their greater opportunities 
will, no doubt, in time better the instruction. The 
Canada cheese industry affords a concrete example 
of what I mean. A few years since there was 
no such trade. It began with co-operation among 
farmers in the western province, and was encouraged 
first by agricultural societies, then by the Ontario 
Government, and lately by the Dominion. The theory 
and practice of cheese-making is now an important 
branch of the Agricultural Department's activity, and 
is sedulously taught from Halifax to Vancouver. Its 
export last year to this country was valued at 
17,000,000 dollars. This growth indicates the chief 
sphere of internal group-action in relation to Inter- 
British trade, the utilisation of local advantages. Sub- 
sidiary to it, Ave may place the records of industry, the 
statistics, not of import and export merely, but of 
production on the one side and consumption on the 
other. 

During the last decade the sphere of government 
has perceptibly widened among the peoples of Greater 
Britain. Under the Southern Cross as in the Western 
Hemisphere, quick transit in all its forms, cold storage 
on land and by water, artesian wells and draining, im- 
provement of live-stock and vegetable products, preser- 
vation of forests, development of mines and fisheries, 
utiUsation of Avater-powers, technical instruction in 
staple industries have become the policies of adminis- 
trations. Prominent among these is the recently 
promulgated programme of Mr. Ross, Premier of 
Ontario, whose new departure, bold in conception 
and well calculated to effect its end, deserves success. 
It is a gauge which tells how far Liberal statesmen 
have moved from the position so common thirty years 



INTER-BRITTSH TRADE 461 

ago of laisser /aire or State-abstinence in matters of 



industry, 



Recent investigations by Mr. George Johnson sliow 
the growth of the internal group-trade of Canada. 
It rose from four million dollars in 1867 to eighty 
millions in 1889, and to one hundred and fifty 
millions in 1899. 

15. Relations of the Growps outside Great Britain. — 
This is the smallest Inter-British trade. The total inter- 
chansre of the Colonies with each other amounted in 
1893 to ^100,461,289, and in 1896 to ;^84,2 2 7,400.^ 
Their commerce with foreign countries was £1 1 8,276,097 
in 1893, and i^i 12,996,266 in 1896." India and 
Canada give the largest returns for foreign trade. In 
order to ascertain the intercourse of group with group, 
of Australasia with Canada, of Canada with the West 
Indies, Australasia with South Africa, we must deduct 
from the Colonial Office figures the inter-colonial trade 
of the several Australasian States with each other. The 
same remark applies to the West Indies and South 
Africa. Reduced by these abatements, the inter- 
group trade outside the British Islands becomes incon- 
siderable when you consider the vast extent of the 
Empire, its mhieral resources, its varied soils, climates, 
and productions ; the number of inhabitants, their 
needs, energies, fivailable capital and acquired skill. 
On the other hand, it opens a wide, if not the widest 
sphere for trade-expansion within the British dominions. 
Its possibilities engaged the attention of the Ottawa 
Conference in 1894 in connection with the project of 
direct steam and telegraphic conuiiunication on the 
Pacific. The appendix to Lord Jersey's Report (pp. 
18-20) contains a list of products in which a profitable 
exchange may take place between Canada and Aus- 
tralia. The establishment of the Huddart line of 

1 Colonial OiTicc List, 1S95, p. 18 ; 1898, p. 20. 
nbid. 



462 GENERAL 

steamers was the first important step taken to develop 
the commerce ; the nomination of a Canadian com- 
mercial asfent in Australia and the West Indies was 
the second. This year the Dominion offers differential 
tariff-rates to the West Indies in the hope of securing 
her import of breadstuff's. For every dollar's worth of 
provisions the West Indies took from Canada last year 
she drew thirty-five dollars' worth from the United 
States. An improved steam-service following the vote 
of the Imperial Parliament is a desideratum. 

1 6. Though this inter-group conmierce is yet in its 
early days, it is important to us because it brings into 
view a second phase of internationalism, a phase which 
is one remove further than a Customs-Union from a 
national status, and one remove nearer to internation- 
alism pure and simple. Its means are commercial 
treaty and reciprocal legislation. A Customs-Union 
cannot obtain, because the groups are not contiguous. 
They are far apart. But while distance deprives them 
of the benefit of a single tariff, they may obtain advan- 
tages by way of bargain, sanctioned by treaty or mutual 
legislation, because their economic development is 
fairly uniform. A conmicrcial treaty is among the 
possibilities for Canada and the West Indies, Canada 
and Australasia, Australasia and South Africa as for 
Canada and France, Canada and the United States. 
Lord llipon's despatch of June 1895, sets down the 
conditions on which it may be framed. 

I 7. Relations of Great Britain to the other Gronps. — 
This is the chief Imperial trade. The Colonies pro- 
duce for the Mother Country and in turn consume her 
products. Mr. A. W. Flux gives a general view of 
colonial imports in triennial periods, and the percen- 
tage of these that falls to this coimtry and to foreign 
nations.^ 

' "Commercial Supremacy of Great Britain," Economic Journal, 
vol. iv. p. 596. 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 



463 



Imports of Rritisif Possessions (Millions). 



j i879-«i- 


1884-86. 


1889-91. 


India ..... 


444 


55-1 


62.8 


Straits Settleiiient.s . 


14.2 


18.2 


22.7 


Ceylon ..... 


4-3 


37 


4.6 


^fanritiiis 


2.0 


2.1 


1.9 


Australia ..... 


25.7 


36.1 


36.9 


New Zealand .... 


7-2> 


7-?, 


6.4 


(^ape of Good Hope . 


8.5 


47 


9.8 


Other South African Colonies . 


2,-3 


2.8 


57 


Canada ..... 


16.9 


21.5 


23.0 


Other American Colonies . 

Total . 


8.2 


8.1 


8.1 


134-8 


159.6 


181. 9 


Percentcige of Great Britain 


60.1 


60.0 


58.7 


„ Germany 


0.5 


I.O 


1.8 


„ France 


1.2 


1-3 


1-3 


„ United States 


12.2 


15-5 


17.7 



The following table, which I tak^ from Sir George 
Baden-Powell's article on " Imperial Free Trade," ^ and 
is drawn up in fonrteen-year intervals, represents not 
unfairly the comparative export of the Colonies to 
Great Britain and foreign coimtries : — 



Exports (00.000 Omitted). 





To Countries within 
the Empire. 


t 

To Foreign Countries, 


From . 


1867 


1881 


1895 


1867 


.881 


1895 


India . 


44.0 


50.5 


63.6 


9-5 


30.2 


57-3 ! 


Tropica] Colonies 


13.6 


15-5 


15.9 


4.9 


1 1.0 


18.4 ' 


Australasia . 


30.2 


46.1 


56.6 


0.4 


2.4 


7-4 


South Africa 


2.6 


9.0 


16.5 


0.1 


0.2 


0.6 


North America . 
Totals . 


9.6 


12.9 


14.4 


10.2 


9-5 


10.3 


1 00.0 


134.0 


167.0 


25.1 


5jo 


94.0 



^ Fortnightly Review, 1897, p. 944- 



464 GENERAL 

On these figures, it may be said that the rise from 
100 to 167 indicates an increase of only 6^ per cent, 
in Inter-British trade, while the rise from 25 to 94 
shows an aiit^mentation in the colonial foreign trade of 
266 per cent. Well, what then ? Is not a foreign 
trade profitable to the Colonies, and therefore to the 
Empire ? Is not its increase to be sought as well as 
increase in the foreign trade of the United Kingdom ? 
The roundabout trade is often the most lucrative form 
of traffic. Again, the rise in export is most marked in 
India and the tropical Colonies, and in these cases, as 
may be seen from the table, is not an instance of dis- 
placement. The excess of British over foreign pur- 
chases was, in the first year selected, iJ^7 5,000,000, in 
the second ;^8 1,000,000, in the third ^^77,000,000, 
and is therefore fairly constant. To look to percent- 
ages only may lead one far astray in commercial 
afFau's ; for the addition of ;^ 1,000,000 to a trade of 
;^ 1, 000,000 is a rise of 100 per cent., while the addi- 
tion of ;^2, 000,000, or double the amount, to a trade 
of ;i^i 0,000,000 gives an increase merely of 20 per 
cent. On the whole, whether you consider imports or 
exports, colonial interchange with the Mother Country 
is the most important branch of Inter-British trade. 
It is an international trade pure and simple. There is 
no contiguity between the trading parts ; there is no 
equality in their conditions ; their developments are as 
diverse as their situations. It lacks, therefore, the 
elements which are commonly associated with a Cus- 
toms-Union and a counnercial treaty. This will 
appear more clearly when we examine certain 
propositions tliat liavc been put forward for its 
pr( (motion. 

I 8. The first is that the Colonies should assimilate 
their tariffs and trade-methods to those of the United 
Kingdom. I take Mr. Ashton's essay on " Imperial 
Customs or Fiscal Union " to be the best cxpo.sition of 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 465 

this theory.^ The argument he rehes on is the wonder- 
ful prosperity of Enghmd under free-trade. He dwells 
upon the great increase of English commerce from 
;^268,ooo,ooo in 1854 to i^682, 000,000 in 1894, or, 
if you take into account the fall of prices as estimated 
by Saiierbach's tables, to nearly twice that sum ; the 
comforts that are now within reach of the masses, a 
subject to which Sir Robert Giffen has devoted careful 
attention ; the savings of the people, which reach ten 
and a half millions yearly ; the accumulated property 
and profits of the trading classes as ascertained by the 
income-tax returns, which have more than doubled in 
forty years ; the expansion of the shipping interest 
and its increased efficiency from the use of steam ; the 
steady lessening of the national debt through a term 
of years ; and the advance in investments abroad, 
which now reach the enormous sum of three thou- 
sand millions sterling. Having thus shown that the 
free - trade system has been of incalculable benefit 
to the United Kingdom, and " that to depart from it 
would make this country a laughing-stock among the 
nations," he proceeds to frame tarift's for the several 
Colonies on the basis of the existino^ tariff' of this 
country. He adds, " If we could get the Colonies to 
adopt our fiscal policy, a Customs -Union might be 
more easily established." 

1 9. Now, if the " Colonies adopt our fiscal policy," 
you might get customs uniformity in an attenuated 
way, but in what sense could you get a Customs- 
Union ? The object of "our fiscal policy" is to do 
away with customs generally; while a Customs-Union 
is meaningless except among peoples who are pre- 
disposed to maintain duties at least on imports. The 
basis, therefore, for that form of international agree- 
ment is Avanting as between the Mother Country and 
the colonial groups. 

^ Statist Supplemeut, 9th May 1S96. 
V 2 G 



466 GENERAL 

20. England is not the only free-trade nation in 
the world ; she is not the only free-trade nation that 
has prospered enormously during the last fifty years ; 
nor is she the only prosperous free- trade nation that 
has colonies. Why should we forget our close neigh- 
bour, Holland ? — our former foes, our blood-relations, 
the Dutch people, whose language is most akin to 
ours? They adopted free -trade earlier than we did, 
continued it longer, and, if figures may be depended 
on, have gained more by it. The volume of our com- 
merce exceeds theirs, but if you take it per head of 
population and accept Mr. Mulhall's estimate, the- ratio 
stands in their favour as 390 to 900.^ They extended 
their fiscal policy to their Colonies, they obtained uni- 
formity as the French did, though on another basis ; 
but with what result to their Colonies ? They are 
commercial establishments ; in the sense of empire 
they do not count. The Dutch are the Carthaginians 
of modern times ; they exploit a region rather than 
settle a country. The English may be a nation of 
shopkeepers too, but they are a nation of shopkeepers 
in whom the Imperial instinct of ancient Rome works 
strongly. They build up communities, new Englands, 
wherever they go. If there be one feature of their 
over-sea policy more distinctive than another, it is not 
the effort after uniformity, but the adaptation of tarifi- 
systems to autonomous necessities within each group 
or taxing unit. 

2 I . The tariff of England is the outcome of local 
conditions and local growth. Beginning with Hus- 
kisson's time, when 1400 articles were taxed, we niay 
mark the stages of her progress in the order of time 
thus : — 

(a) Reduction of duties on raw materials used in 
manufacture, ending in their entire abolition ; 

(b) Release of the principal foodstuffs from taxa- 

' " Dictionary of Statistics," p. 128, Plate III. 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 467 

tion, though preserving a few insignificant imposts on 
currants, figs, raisins, tea, and cofllce ; 

(c) Equalisation of excise and taxation on alcohoHc 
compounds and narcotics, followed by increased rates ; 
{d) Movement to direct taxation : 

(z) The income-tax is begun, increased, and 

made permanent ; 
(y) The succession, probate, estate, and death 
duties are equalised, graduated, con- 
solidated and expanded. 
This progression was dependent upon, and was 
concomitant with, the growth of England's industry, 
which we may indicate broadly by the advance in her 
foreign commerce from ;^8 1,000,000 in 1820 to 
^5^746,000,000 in 1897. The most remarkable, the 
most significant part of it is, probably, the latest, Sir 
William Harcourt's financial measures, which have 
astonished both friends and foes by their Avonderful 
productiveness, the ease of their collection, and the 
equity of their incidence. They are the greatest 
triumph we have yet had in the application of free- 
trade principles to practical concerns. All men ap- 
prove them now, but how many Avere there in the last 
Parliament who had faith in Sir William's proposals, 
or foresaw the manner of their operation ? Even 
within the Liberal ranks they were regarded as a leap 
in the dark. What chance of acceptance would they 
have had in the House of Commons in the sixties, the 
era of Mr. Gladstone's great reforms ? Would Peel 
have considered them for the purpose of legislation ? 
And for Huskisson, would they not have been wholly 
out of the question ? Setting aside the fact that a 
Customs-Union of the Empire would have made their 
adoption in the United Kingdom impossible, it is clear 
that they depended, as financial measures generally 
depend, on time and opportunity, on the stage and 
character of the nation's industrial development. If 



468 GENERAL 

you first equalise the conditions of the Empire-groups 
in their myriad-fold diversity, you will then obtain 
some foundation for a uniform system of raising 
revenue. 

2 2. In elaborating new tariffs for the Colonies on 
the English model, Mr. Ashton finds their customs' 
revenues amount to ;^ 13,000,000. He estimates that 
his system will yield ;^7, 000,000, leaving a deficit of 
;^6,ooo,ooo in round numbers, say 46 per cent. Is 
not that enough to show its impracticability ? Again, 
in order to obtain so close an approximation at 46 per 
cent, he has to exclude India, the Crown Colonies, and 
the Protectorates. But, passing by the exceptions, how 
will he make up the deficiency ? Ho argues upon the 
wastefulness of Protection and the internal gain which 
would result from a more enlightened method. This 
argument proceeds on the assumption that the out- 
side Empire levies customs for the purpose of artifi- 
cially encouraging home industries. But is not the 
statement too broad ? Out of fifty-two or fifty-three 
British governments over-sea I find that only four or, 
at most, five adopt Protection as a tariff-principle : 
Canada, Victoria, West Australia, the Cape, and, to a 
slight extent, India. You may say Newfoundland 
should be added to the list ; but if so, should not 
Canada be taken from it, now that she has come 
under the sway of the Free-trade party ? Under any 
circumstances, the general fact is that the majority of 
Colonial governments taboo the protective system, and 
that whatever evils, actual or possible, may be laid to 
its accoimt, its abolition could have but little effect in 
filling tlie deficit of 46 ])cr cent., which would result 
from the transfer of the English tariff to the colonial 
groups. 

23. To my mind, by far too much im})ortauce is 
attached to the difference between protection and non- 
protection witliin the Empire and outside of it; the 



INTER-BRTTTSH TRADE 469 

doniinant factors of coiinnerce to-day seem to me to 
stand apart from tariff-regulations. For instance, 1 
find Germany to have prospered in almost as great a 
ratio as England, notwithstanding her tariff'. Mr. 
Mnlhall investigates the " Wealth and Power of the 
United States," ^ and tells us that she possesses " by 
far the greatest productive power in the Avorld " ; that 
that power has "more than trebled since i860, rising 
from 39 to 129 milliards of foot-tons daily"; and 
that her "accumulation of wealth averages $7,000,000" 
a day. He adds in conclusion: "English statisticians 
estimate the ordinary accumulation in Great Britain at 
five pounds, say twenty-five dollars, per head, whereas 
we have seen that the American average is forty-one 
dollars per head." The United States is pronouncedly 
protectionist. What elements there may be in the 
German and American situation which enable these 
countries to prosj^er in spite of their fiscal policy is a 
question into which Mr, Ashton does not enter. But 
this is plain, that advance on the one side and retro- 
gression on the other may well depend on inffuences 
that are independent of tariff or the incidence of 
customs. 

24. Again, Sir Robert Giffen, in a recent number 
of the Economic Journal^ demonstrates very clearly 
that, under the most favourable conditions, protection 
can have little influence in stimulating production in 
communities where the population, as in the majority 
of the English Colonies, is less than a million or a 
million and a half. Their home market is too small. 
An ardent protectionist might say this is the reason 
why the Colonies are for the most part Free-traders. 
So far, let us agree with him. But what does it 
matter to a British exporter whether he pays, if he 
does pay, a customs-levy as a contribution to colonial 

^ North Ahtrriciin Rcvicv, 1895, p. 641. 
2 March 1S98. 



470 GENERAL 

revenue only, or as a mulct that is intended to operate 
in favour of tlie local manufacturer ? In so far as 
the particular transaction is concerned, the destina- 
tion or object of the tax is nothing to him so long as 
its amount remains the same. Now, strange as it may 
appear, he is treated more gently in Colonies that are 
called protectionist than in those which profess free- 
trade. In judging this question, I do not take isolated 
Colonies on either side, but form an average of the two 
classes. I exclude Newfoundland because her protec- 
tionism is only of a few months' standing. I set aside 
India also because she is protectionist to a slight degree 
merely, and in an average Avould tell too favourably on 
the side of trade restriction. The proper test seems to 
me to be, not nominal tariff-rates, as between the two 
classes, but the percentage of actual customs to total 
revenue, a view which should operate in favour of 
the open door. Well, then, how stands the situation 
according to the "Colonial Office List" for 1895 and 
the " Abstract " for the Colonies of the same year ? 
In the four protectionist Colonies, 38 per cent, of the 
revenue is derived from customs ; in thirty-eight 
other govermnents Avhose returns are given — all free- 
trade in principle — the average percentage is 48. 
The case of Gambia is peculiar. Her public revenue 
is said to be (1893) ^^495 2, and her customs revenue 

;^26,946. 

25. Mr. Chamberlain says that if we wait for com- 
mercial union till the Colonies adopt the English fiscal 
[)()licy we shall wait till the " Greek Kalends."' ^ There 
need be little doubt on that point. Meantime, a sug- 
gestion is put forth that there might be free-trade 
within the limits of the Empire, just as there is free- 
trade between the States of the American Union. From 
tlic standpoint of the Mother Country there is no eco- 
nomical objection to the proposition. It is distinguished 

' Foreign and Colonial Speeches, p. 182. 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 471 

from Mr. Ashton's because the Colonies would be at 
liberty to impose what duties they chose on foreign 
goods. On the one side, you would have a vast 
extension of the free-trade area, nearly 1 2,000,000 
square miles of territory, containing more than 380 
millions of people, the same expansion that we should 
have under Mr. Ashton's proposal. But what should 
we have on the other side ? A United States ? I 
have already given my reasons for thinking that a 
union, commercial or poHtical, on the scale of the 
United States, would be much too narrow to meet 
the exigencies of the British Empire. Would you get 
even a United States ? There would be as many 
tariffs against foreign peoples as there are Colonies, 
while the chief member of the Confederacy would have, 
practically, no tariff at all relating to outsiders. The 
citizens of the projected' Union, therefore, would have 
no such equality as subsists between the citizens of 
Maine and those of Oregon. The condition would be 
one of unstable equilibrium. Again, if the Colonies 
exempt British and Inter-Colonial trade from contribu- 
tion to their revenues — I presume, for the moment, 
that other peoples would not exploit Inter- British 
channels — one of two results would follow. The first 
presumes that indirect taxation, as it is now practised, 
is to continue ; in that event, as the foreign imports 
of the Colonies would bear the burden of the local 
administration, you nuist tax them very highly, and 
raise beyond the realm a Chinese wall of extraordinary 
magrnitude asfainst the rest of mankind. To whose 
advantage could this be ? Setting aside Canada's 
relations with the [Jnited States, you would strike a 
severe blow against the foreign traffic of India and the 
Tropical Colonies, a traffic that does not displace, but, 
on the contrary, fosters interchange with this country 
itself. The circle of exchanges, the widening of which 
is the object of free-trade, would be contracted under 



472 GENERAL 

the operation of tliis method. The other alternative is 
direct taxation within the colonial groups. But the 
suggestion we are reviewing is made for the purpose of 
getting over the necessity of direct taxation in the 
Colonies. As we are upon the point, I quote the fol- 
lowingf remarks from Sir Rawson Rawson who has 
studied the " Tariffs and Trade of the British Empire " 
more thoroughly, probably, than any other man in this 
country. He says, on page 1 2 : " In newly-settled and 
sparsely-populated countries, such as most of the British 
possessions, the most convenient, if not the only, source 
of revenue is indirect taxation ; and the most certain, 
regular, and abundant source of that revenue, the 
duties most easily levied and the least felt, and conse- 
quently, the most acceptable to the population, are, 
beyond doubt, customs duties. It is, therefore, doubt- 
ful whether in any part of the Empire recourse will for 
a long time be had to any substitute for customs duties, 
or to any material change in the constitution of the 
tariffs." 

26. From the international trade standpoint, we 
may say that both theories aim at treating the Empire 
in its vastness as a single group of that Empire, ignoring 
at once difference in situation, difference in development. 
The next proposition I refer to emanates from the 
Ottawa Conference of 1894. Its latest advocate is 
Mr. Colmcr. He sees the impossibility of a fiscal 
union, a uniform tariff and of a zollvcrein on that 
basis, for the whole of her Majesty's dominions. But 
he seeks a " Commercial Federation," and, in drawing 
out his scheme, presents us with what at first sight 
sooms to be a contradiction. The following are two 
consecutive sentences in Mr. Colmcr's essay, and the 
turning point of his argument: "The fundamental 
basis of Commercial federation nnist bo preferential 
treatment of tlie products of the Kmpire within the 
Kmpiro, in .some form or otlioi", and no other plan can 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 473 

be regarded as practicable. But there is no necessity 
to do violence to the principles of Free-trade, or to 
pander to what is called Protection, in the sense in 
which it is regarded in Great Britain." ^ The following 
are detached sentences on pages 1 4 and 15:" In 
considering the question, the theories of Free-trade and 
Protection must equally be placed on one side " ; " there 
must be a certain amount of give and take in any 
arrangement, if success is to be the result." There 
must be " give and take," " preferential treatment," 
bargain and sale, in any commercial treaty which the 
colonial groups may form, either between themselves 
or with foreign nations. But does " give and take," 
" preferential treatment," accord with " the principles of 
Free-trade " as Free-trade " is regarded in England " ? 
Does it not " pander to what is called Protection " ? 
The object of the Free-trade system of England, as well 
as its historical result, is to do away with preferences 
of every kind ; we might almost say, to do away with 
customs duties. 

In his Appendix I. (p. 42) Mr. Colmer gives us a 
detailed list of the " Colonies affected by proposed 
import duties in the United Kingdom," and of the 
articles he proposes to tax. The articles consist of 
tliirty general classes, and may be summarised under 
the headings, foodstuffs, and raw materials of manufac- 
ture. What theory of Free-trade justifies the taxation 
of foodstuffs ? What theory of Protection sanctions 
impositions on raw n)aterials of manufacture ? From 
the standpoint of the United Kingdom, therefore, the 
placing of duties on foreign products that compete 
in the home market with colonial products can be 
justified under no theory. On the other hand, it is 
plain that such discrimination, if obtained, would be 
an immediate gain to colonial producers of cereals, 

1 Statist Supplement, May 2, 1S96, p. 15 ; see also Economic Journal, 
vol. vi. p. 553. 



474 GENERAL 

wools, wines, sugars, fruits, &c., and, it may be, to 
the Colonies generally. On this ground Sir Charles 
Tupper has based his plea for a preferential tariff 
within the Empire, and has urged it eloquently upon 
the electors of Canada and her Majesty's Ministers. 
If the advantage of this country from the course 
proposed were as evident as the immediate advantage 
of the Colonies, the project would be well within the 
bounds of practical politics. It fails, as the opposing 
scheme of Mr. Ashton fails, because it does not take 
due cognisance of both sides of the problem to be 
solved. If you tax foreign imports you strike a 
severe blow not merely at the domestic production 
of the United Kingdom, but also at certain phases 
of her conunerce which are rapidly increasing in 
volume and importance to-day, e.g. : — 

(i) The trade of import and re-export, and the 
carrying trade generally ; 

(2) The returns from loans to foreign govern- 

ments, chiefly foodstuffs and raw materials 
of jiianufacture ; 

(3) The returns from investments abroad in lands, 

mines, factories, railways, &c., in both hemis- 
pheres. 
You would likewise attack her standing as the financial 
agent of the world's over-sea trade, a position once 
held by Holland. There is scarcely a consignment 
of staple goods — of tea or coflee, of" silk, wool or 
cottons — moved from port to port except by bill on 
London. She reaps on each transaction, it may be, from 
a quarter to a half of i per cent., a small sum if you 
look only to the individual transfer, but an enormous 
revenue if you consider the aggregate of business in 
which the world's shipping is engaged. 

27. Sir Wilfred Laurier introduced a new phase of 
the problem in 1897. In place of asking for difl'er- 
cntial treatment for Canadian products in the English 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 475 

market, he offered to English goods entering Canada 
after i st August a rebate of duties amounting to 2 5 
per cent. The rebate was advanced to 33^ per cent, on 
the first day of July 1 900. Its original purpose was to 
extend the same advantage to all communities trading 
with Canada on equal or lower terms of tarifl^'. That 
object was found to bo impossible of attainment, 
because of the operation of the " most favoured nation " 
clause in treaties, about thirty in number, which affect 
the Dominion. By Order in Council, the United King- 
dom, New South Wales, India, Ceylon, and, at the 
request of the Imperial Government, the West Indies, 
came under the new arrangement. It does not 
aim at a commercial union of the Colonies. It does 
not profess to indemnify the Mother Country for ex- 
penditure in Imperial defence. From an historical 
standpoint, it inverts the old conception that Colonies 
should have preference in the Metropolis, a policy that 
bolstered up the mercantile theory for some time, but 
was of doubtful value either to the Mother Country or 
her offspring. Its chief economic feature is that it 
aims at promoting trade by way of tariff, and, for this 
purpose, introduces a higher and lower scale somewhat 
after the French system. To that extent it departs 
from the principle that customs levies should be 
adapted to local necessities only. 

The question, how have the preferential clauses 
worked, has naturally excited keen debate in Ottawa. 
All parties admit that the trade of the Dominion has 
expanded enormously during the last four or five 3'ears. 
To ascertain the effect of the preference on that expan- 
sion, one must eliminate all foreign traffic, whether 
import or export, and, secondly, the increased pur- 
chases of Canadian goods in this country. On these 
the rebate has no direct bearing at all. It aflccts 
primarily certain manufactured goods, whose values 
I tabulate from a Giohc leader of the 2nd of July 1 900, 



4/6 



GENERAL 



for the years whicli the chief Liberal organ regards as 
test years : — 



Manufactui-es of 


1897. 


1899. 


Increase. 


Wool 

Cotton 

Flax. . . \ 

Hemp . . > 

Jute . . . ) 

Silk. 

Iron . . . > 

Steel . . I 

Machinery 


15,576,859 
2,693,114 

1,158,809 

1,396,015 

1,649,081 

193,750 


17,686,366 
3,906,676 

1,610,210 

2,062,428 

1,865,642 

453,728 


$2,109,507 
1,213,562 

451,401 

666,413 
216,361 
259,918 



A more favourable representation could scarcely be 
made, for the year ending June 1897 was the year of 
the general election, the year in which, the Reform 
Party being returned, tariff changes were expected, and 
importations from this country were remarkably low. 
Thus, the total of English goods entered for consump- 
tion in 1895 was, in round numbers, 3 1 million 
dollars' worth, and in 1896, the last year of the Con- 
servative regime, was valued at 32 millions. They 
fell to 29 millions in 1897, recovered to 32 millions 
in 1898, and rose to 37 millions in 1899. Tlic actual 
increase therefore under Mr. Fielding's administration, 
so far as the returns go, we might not unfairly put at 
5 million dollars. But how much of this is due to the 
general expansion of trade ? How nuich to special 
causes affecting Canada, as the opening of Klondike, 
and the consequent inrush of English capital which 
would naturally take the form of impoj-ts ? How nuich 
is to be attributed to the prcfcruntjal clauses as a 
tariff-scheme ? Mr. Fielding docs not answer these 
questions directly, but, on page 27 of his budgct- 
spcccl), gives a table from which wo may infer that he 
attributes one-third of the increase to the tariff. If 
so, its operation is reduced to modest proportions, and 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 477 

we need scarcely inquire here whetlicr the third dis- 
places foreign importations or home products. Prob- 
ably the conclusion of the Ironmonijcr, in regard to its 
own trade, may apply to English industries generally, 
namely, that the control of the Dominion market 
depends mainly on causes that are independent of the 
rebate, such as the quality, finish, pattern of goods, 
and their suitableness to local requirements.^ 

The arrangement is artificial, and does not realise 
the intention of its authors. Thus, to obtain the 
benefit of the tariff, 25 per cent, of the invoice value 
of goods must consist of labour applied to them in 
the United Kingdom, Very good; but what of the 
remaining 75 per cent.? The Iron Age tells us that 
the Germans, who now refuse to accord to Canada 
the " most favoured nation " clause, are astute enough 
to take advantage of it. It is even claimed that their 
manufactures of iron and steel leave Germany in a 
finished state, pass through England and enter Canada 
at the preferential rate. The fraud is evident, but 
how can you prevent it, except at great cost and 
minute investigation into each consignment ? Again, 
a notable feature of the recent statistics is the growth 
of United States' imports into Canada. A large pro- 
portion of them enter under the free clauses of Mr. 
Fielding's tariff; but to a considerable part of them 
the British preference applies as to wool, cotton and 
flax fabrics, iron and steel. Iron and steel imports 
during the last five years rose from i^ 1,290,000 to 
^2,895,000, an increase of ;^i,6o5ooo sterling. So 
likewise, in the case of cottons, there was an increase 
from ;6'2 8 5,ooo to i^ 1,097,000 during the same 
interval. The American Consul at Niagara might well 
report to his government under these circumstances: 
" It will require more than a preferential tariff to shut 
out American manufactures from Canada" (1899). 

' See The Imnmonyer Supplement, "Hardware Trade in Canada." 



478 GENERAL 

28, The several proposals we have been consider- 
ing operate on tariffs. But have tariff's, in modern 
times, that wide influence over trade that they had, or 
were supposed to have, in days gone by ? Has the 
" McKinley Act," with the apparatus of the Blaine 
treaties, done that quantity of mischief to the English 
market that was anticipated a few years ago ? It 
should have ruined Canadian commerce, but has 
proved a blessing in disguise. Export duties, except 
in the case of monopolies, are gone ; export bounties 
are kept in remembrance by beet-root sugar ; em- 
bargoes are confined to Russia ; prohibitive import 
duties have given place throughout Christendom to 
tariffs which Sir Robert Giffen rightfully calls " Cobden 
tariffs." In these days Protection, be it high or low, 
aims at admitting freely an increasing number of 
commodities, notably raw materials. What are raw 
materials ? In a young country where manufacture 
is almost absent, the line of division between what is 
and what is not raw material is tolerably plain ; but, 
as industry develops, that distinction grows dim and 
retreats farther and farther away. The term is rela- 
tive, and the manufactured product of one industry 
to-day becomes the raw material of another industry 
to-morrow. No matter for what purpose you levy 
import duties, to foster home industries or for revenue 
only, to discriminate in this direction or in that, two 
practical difficulties confront you : ( i ) the incidence of 
the tax shifts from point to point and restricts the 
output of secondary products; (2) this result is the 
more evident and the more disastrous the greater is 
the expansion of a country's industries. The range of 
operation, therefore, which modern conditions allow to 
a tariff' in the regulation of trade is restricted and 
grows narrower with time. If you take it at its best, 
it can provide but a weak support for Inter-British 
trade. As we shall see farther on, it takes no account 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 479 

of " the dominant economic factor of the age," to use 
Professor Marshall's language. 

29. The proposals ignore the degrees of inter- 
nationalism which we have found to subsist within 
Empire. You have first an internationalism within a 
geographical group, as in Australasia and the West 
Indies, which tends to culminate in a national con- 
dition of which Canada is the type. You have, again, 
an internationalism as in South Africa, which may 
temporarily admit a common tariff or Customs-Union 
for the group. There is, in the third place, the inter- 
nationalism which may obtain as between the several 
colonial groups, an internationalism which does not 
permit a single tariff because the element of con- 
tiguity is wanting, but may allow a commercial treaty 
with " give and take," because their stages of develop- 
ment are approximately equal and all of them raise 
revenue on imports. We have, fourthly, an inter- 
nationalism as between the Mother Country and the 
colonial groups where contiguity of parts, approximate 
stages of development, are wholly wanting, while the 
tie of common sovereignty remains. In point of tariff, 
there is nothing on which to work in bringing about 
a Customs-Union or negotiating a commercial treaty. 
It is said sometimes, " we have thrown away our 
arms " ; but, if you think of it, the first is possible 
only by introducing the French system of uniformity 
to the ruin of the Colonies ; the second by the destruc- 
tion of the industries of the Mother Country. What 
Government could propose to tax foodstuffs and raw 
materials of manufacture, or to increase indirect taxa- 
tion ? The movement of En<jflish civilisation, the needs 
of industry, point in the opposite direction. Even so 
innoxious an arrangement as the Cobden Treaty, 
though it operated by way of remission and not in- 
crease and was confined to alcohols, has no substantial 
chance of renewal or advocacy from any party in the 



48o GENERAL 

State. To reach a measure of unanimity, tlie Asso- 
ciated Chambers of Commerce of the Empire found it 
necessary this year to reduce their resohitions concern- 
ing preferential trade to a pious negative. This brings 
me to the concluding portion of my paper. 

III. — Application of the International Method 
TO the British Empire Groups as a Whole. 

30. Mr. Cairnes provides us with the clue to this 
branch of the inquiry. He views the main question 
from a negative standpoint, and endeavours to enume- 
rate the hindrances which prevent the expansion of 
international traffic. We must regard the subject 
positively in order to convert hindrances into further- 
ances and indicate how Inter-British trade may be 
promoted. We may leave out of account certain 
aspects of the question on which Mr. Cairnes naturally 
dwells, as differences in language, because their appli- 
cation to our purposes is not immediate. On the 
other hand, avc may add one or two which he deems 
of minor importance. The details of application ad- 
mitted by the international principle are necessarily 
infinite. I confine myself to three or four principal 
headings. 

3 I . A. International trade is hindered by restrictions 
on the easy fiow of capital ; Inter-British trade will be 
promoted by facilitating the flow from group to group. 
It is said that ;^7oo,ooo,ooo of English moneys is 
loaned to governments and corporations within the 
Colonies, while an undefined sum is placed in the 
hands of private persons. Vast as these amounts may 
bo, thoy do not exhaust the loan-fund of this country, 
meet the exigencies of the English " over-sea," or touch 
the limit of profitable investment. It is for each group 
to open additional avenues for the employment of new 
capital and to attract investmenls. A steady decline in 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 481 

the rate of interest on colonial loans of late years, shows 
that money is flowing- in increasing volumes to the utmost 
bounds of the Empire, that the security enjoyed is satis- 
factory, and that the returns obtained are ample. 

A Bill passed this year empowers trustees to invest 
in colonial securities. So far forth as concerns Govern- 
ment action, the chief point that seems to call for com- 
ment is the regulations which refer to the granting or 
guaranteeing of loans to young communities for public 
works, steam services, and other improvements. 

32. B. Conflict of laws affecting trade, industry, 
personal liberty and safety are a hindrance to free 
exchange. For its development, therefore, the legal 
methods of the Empire should, as far as possible, be 
brought into accord. This opens a wide sphere of 
activity and usefulness to Chambers of Commerce, 
Colonial Conferences, the Agents-General. The laws 
of the Empire, in obedience to the course of trade, 
already tend to uniformity ; and it should be no 
difficult task for a body of experts to agree upon, 
consolidate, and even codify a considerable number of 
the more important legal provisions. Such a collection 
might include, among others, the following subjects : — 

(i) Weights, measures, legal tender, and currency; 

(2) Commercial, including company and shipping 

law; 

(3) Bankruptcy, insolvency, distribution of assets ; 

(4) Patents and copyrights ; 

(5) Inheritance and succession, naturalisation; 

(6) Criminal law and procedure ; 

(7) Military law and form of administration; 

(8) In order to preserve and extend the range of 

uniformity, there should be an Imperial Court 
of Appeal, which should have full jurisdiction 
over all local tribunals wherever situate. The 
establishment of such a Court is now engaging 
the attention of her Majesty's Ministers. 
V 2 H 



482 GENERAL 

I need not dwell on these points ; their advantage 
is apparent. I make one remark only. A reasonable 
and uniform patent law, founded on the United States 
pattern, or, better still, on that of Germany, would do 
more to utilise the resources of the Empire, and thereby 
advance its trade, than all tariff-contrivances that could 
be devised. The Scientific American in a late number 
says that nine-tenths of the United States' production 
is under patented processes. 

33. C. Ignorance of the requirements and capa- 
bilities of the foreign market is a hindrance to profitable 
commerce ; to further Inter-British trade, then, the 
needs of the local markets in all groups must be 
mutually known, the changes in these needs from year 
to year, the new avenues for investment and exchange 
that are constantly opening. Exhibitions have been of 
service to this end ; the Imperial Institute has an 
important function to discharge in connection with it ; 
the reports of the Agents-General to their Governments 
have produced good results, and the recent circular of 
the Colonial Secretary is a model for the future. What 
we require is an organised consular S3^stem within as 
well as outside the Empire, and easy access to its 
reports. What is there that the Empire in its vastness 
and variety cannot produce ? What is there that it 
cannot utilise ? 

34. D. The chief hindrance to international trade 
is distance. The abridging of distance will, then, be the 
principal means of promoting Inier-British trade. Pro- 
fessor Marshall ^ tells us that " the douanant economic 
factor of the age " is not the industrial or productive 
agencies, on which tariffs are supposed to operate, but 
the transport agencies, where they have no ])lacc. The 
recent action of the Rhine -Westphalian and Upper 
Silesian coal-owners, mentioned in the Annual Report 
on our trade witli Germany, lately issued by the 

' " I'rinciples of Economics," i. pj). 354-7, 763-9. 



INTER-BRTTISH TRADE 483 

Foreign Office, is interesting iu this regard. They are 
alarmed at the import of coal from England. In 

1896 it amovmted to 4,307,463 tons, and rose in 

1897 to 4,808,900 tons, an increase of i 1.6 per cent., 
while the entire German import from England in- 
creased by 8.3 per cent. only. Though the policy of 
Germany is protective, they do not ask for additional 
taxes, as they might have done in other days in order 
to compete successfully with their English rivals, but 
for cheaper rates of transit. 

The drop in American railway rates per ton per 
mile between 1870 and 1890 exceeded 60 per cent. ; ^ 
the haulage of one ton per ten miles on Australian 
railways fell from 75 pence in 1864 to 18 pence in 
1887 ;"^ the export price of a bushel of wheat at New 
York was approximately five and three-quarter times 
the cost of its transport from Chicago eastwards in 
1867, and seventeen and a quarter times that cost in 
1897; '^ while the reduction on ocean freights, both 
on the Atlantic and Pacific of late years, is matter of 
common notoriety. It is said that the deepening of 
Lake St. Peters so as to allow vessels of large tonnage 
to ascend to Montreal cheapened English goods at that 
port and to the West by nearly 20 per cent, ad valorem} 
But the effect of this factor, translated into terms of 
tariff or preference, should not be calculated on one 
side only, but on tAvo sides, not on particular articles 
entering a country, but on those for Avliich they are 
there exchanged ; not on the cargo, but on the return 
cargo, and on those commodities for which both cargo 
and return cargo are bartered in either country. It 
thus reduces the level of exchange all round at home 
and abroad ; its operation, instead of being single, is 

^ Contemporary Review, vol. Ix. p. 597. 
2 Mulhall, " Dictionary of Statistics " ; see "Freight." 
^ U. S. Kept., 1898; Dept. of Agric. Div. of Stat., see tables in 
Price of Wheat. 

* See Pam., Sir A. T. Gait, Canada, 1849-1859, pp. 26, 46. 



484 GENERAL 

really quadruple. Quicker and cheaper distribution 
is the urgent demand of our age, and its influence on 
freights, prices, and commercial enterprise is increas- 
ing yearly. In comparison of this dominant factor a 
preference of 5 or 10 per cent., as the Ottawa Con- 
ference suggested, or a rebate on one side of 25 or 
333 P6i' cent., is of little moment. The deepening of 
the Soulanges Canal will exert a much more power- 
ful influence on Canadian traflic than the preference 
clause. 

35. The factor takes three forms when applied to 
our subject. First, we have the transmission of news 
by cable from group to group — a work which is going 
on, but is going on piecemeal. The inquiries which 
have been made since 1894 into the cost and feasi- 
bility of Sir Sandford Fleming's scheme of an All- 
Britannic circuit have been decidedly favourable. The 
opposition to it to-day is- confined to a monopoly. 
What an advantage would this country have reaped 
during the South African crisis had the undertaking 
been prosecuted with any reasonable measure of dili- 
gence ! The outlay would have been recouped many 
times over, cheap rates established, and a reliable 
service instituted. 

The factor's second phase is a cheap and rapid 
postal service for the Empire. Mr. Henuiker Hcaton's 
work in connection with this branch of the subject is 
well known, has been heavy, continuous, and worthy 
of all praise. He has exhausted the argument. A 
penny postage now embraces the greater portion of 
the Empire, and will soon extend to its farthest limits. 

The third mode of abridging distance for purposes 
of commerce is cheap and rapid transport of persons 
and goods from group to group. The Ottawa Confer- 
ence devoted much time to its consideration in regard 
to the Atlantic and Pacific. Lord Jersey's Report 
treats it favoiu*ably and at length. It is obviously 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 485 

a siippleuient to existing means. A new service be- 
tween Southampton and Jamaica will be inaugurated 
on the 1 st of January 1 90 i , under subsidy from the 
Imperial Government of ^^40,000 a year. A fast line 
of steamers, of the type of the Lucania or Deutschland, 
is a necessity between Canada and England in order to 
compete with American services. Lord Jersey ^ tells 
us that, by using "vessels of 20 knots average con- 
tinuous speed, mails may be carried to Hahfax in 
36 and to Quebec in 24 hours less than to New York." 
With an average speed of 25 knots, now attainable, 
the gain would be still greater. From either of these 
points mails can be delivered at New York in much 
less time than now, and their distribution throughout 
the West would be immensely facilitated. It is said 
that a further saving might be cftected by making some 
point in eastern Newfoundland the steamer-terminus, 
and cutting across that island by rail. You might thus 
at one stroke shorten the sea-passage to three days, and 
avoid the danger and unpleasantness of the Atlantic 
voyage. From the North American group there might 
be two other quick services — one from Halifax to the 
West Indies, another from Vancouver to New Zealand 
and Australia. The bindino: too'ether of Australasia to 
the Straits Settlements, the Straits Settlements to India, 
India to South Africa by the* Mauritius, and each by 
the shortest route to this country, would complete 
a circuit of fast exchanoce such as the world has never 
seen — a fast exchange which could not but promote, 
strengthen, and consolidate the might of the Empire 
as well as augment its commerce. 

36. The geographical position of Canada between 
the Atlantic and the Pacific, her solidarity, population, 
and influence in the outside Empire mark her as the 
natural loader in the movement of quick transit. Time 
and again her Parliament has voted the necessary 
1 Report, Ottawa Coufereuce, 1S94, p. 10. 



486 GENERAL 

funds without hesitation. Thus, for an improved 
weekly service on the Atlantic, and a fortnightly 
service on the Pacific, she undertook to pay ;^ 17 5,000 
a year, the United Kingdom contributing ;^7 5,000, 
and the Australasian Colonies among them ^50,000. 
The offer was generous in the circumstances. Much 
has already been done in this respect. What is needed 
for its full realisation is a courageous policy backed by 
energy. Sir Charles Tupper's recent manifesto to the 
electors of Canada foreshadows such a policy. While 
he adheres to his desire for a mutual preference be- 
tween the Mother Country and the Colonies, he expands 
the platform of the Conservative party and brings it 
into line with the latest requirements of Inter-British 
trade in all that concerns fast transportation. The 
immediate benefit to the agricultural community he 
estimates at 50,000,000 dollars. Whatever the proper 
sum be, it will necessarily increase in an accelerated 
ratio year by year. 

But it will be said that the establishment of an All- 
Britannic cable, fast steam communication between 
group and group, with due facilities for cold storage, 
&c., will impose a very considerable cost upon the 
Empire at large. What then ? The Empire at 
large is very large, and might easily bear the 
expense for several reasons. In the first place, 
the work is needful to consolidate and insure the 
Empire in a naval and military point of view. 
It' will be remimerative because it is alonj? the 
main trade-routes, and its continued expansion will 
mean continued development of traffic, increased 
profit, increased ability to pay. If we suppose efficient 
communications between group and group to be in- 
augurated ; if to do this wc add steam, cable, and 
postal services within each group ; if we throw the 
maintenance of these routes upon a common fund, and 
spread its liquidation over a series of years so as to 



INTER-BRITISH TRADE 4*87 

take the form of annual payments ; or if we suppose 
these payments to be made by way of subsidies to 
companies, the companies conforming to the Admiraky 
reuulations in roi>ard to steamboats as the Cunard 
Line now does, and, in regard to cables and postal 
services, to such cdiiditions as Government may deem 
needful — in these circumstances, it is very doubtful 
that the sum to be assessed on the whole Empire 
would reach a million a year. No Customs- Union 
that may be devised could bear so lightly on industry. 
France pays a larger figure for less extensive facilities. 

T)']. We need not enter into the question how such 
a sum may be equitably assessed, for, under the con- 
ditions of the Empire, any scheme of the kind must be 
begun tentatively, be provided for by special vote of 
the groups interested, and carried out as commerce 
expands, as " the circle of exchange " widens, as the 
profit of the groups from the interchange increases. 
Canada's vote to which I refer is indicative of the 
temper of the outside Empire. In regard to the 
United Kingdom, Lord Jersey assures us that her 
quota need involve no addition to her present outlay ; 
she might divert to this purpose the subsidies she now 
pays to foreign lines, that is, about ;i^2oo.ooo a year ; or 
" without granting an actual subsidy at all, effect the 
same result (so far as steamships are concerned) by 
the united action of the Post Office and Admiralty 
Departments." The United Kingdom has shown her 
readiness to bear her share of the outlay. The new 
burden, the cost of the new movement, at least in its 
initial stages, may fall on the Colonies, but, if so, it will 
fall on them to their own advantage and in such a 
way as at once to meet their requirements and fulfil 
their wishes. 

To facilitate the flow of capital from group to 
group; to collect and disseminate to all information 
of the needs, productions, and possibilities of each ; 



488 GENERAL 

to accelerate their inter-communication in their great 
diversity — in a word, to proceed by way of the 
international principle in the development of Inter- 
British trade — what is it but to- base your system 
on " the dominant economic factor of the age " ? This 
principle may not give us a specific for trade advance, 
but it does indicate a policy. On the one side, it 
involves no disturbance of foreign relations, no dis- 
crimination against other peoples, no crippling of 
external tratHc ; on the contrary, it would promote 
profitable exchange abroad. On the other hand, it 
will work and attain its end independently and with 
the means at hand. It accepts frankly the present 
condition of the Empire. It leaves each part in full 
enjoyment of its powers and privileges, free to raise its 
revenue and adjust its taxes in its own way. It 
proceeds not so much by Avay of legislation as by 
administration. It introduces no questionable problem 
into the Empire, and calls for no central imposition. 
It relies on local etibrt, local agencies, those powerful 
factors of industrial growth which England alone of 
nations has been wishful to utilise in her colonial 
system. It is along the trend of Imperial policy 
to-day and in days past. It is nothing more than 
an extension of that policy which has been so success- 
ful, an adaptation of it to present conditions. The 
applications I have given are put forth by way of 
example only. The principle itself applies to neces- 
sities that may arise as well as those which noAV call 
for consideration. 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS, AND THE 
BRITISH EMPIRE 

By EUSTACE H. MILES, M.A. 

(OfKimj's College, Cambridge; Amateur Champion nf the World at Tennis, 

and of the United Slates and Canada at Racquets and Squash-Tennis ; 

formerly Assistant-Master at Rugliy School, and Lecturer for the 

Uiiivirsitji Board of Civil Service Studies at Cambridije 

in Classics and Ancient History ; Author of "The 

Training of the Body," d:c.) 

It would bu possible to write large volumes on this 
subject without exhausting one-half of its aspects. 
Here I shall be obliged to select only a few points, 
namely, those which I consider to be of the greatest 
interest to the largest number of readers. The scheme 
of the essay will be as follows. 

First of all, I shall try to show that we do 
recognise the importance of Sport and Athletics for 
ourselves as individuals, as a Nation, and. above all, 
as a ruling and imperial Nation. 

Secondly, I shall admit the bad side of Sport and 
Athletics, partly because it is only fair to do so, and 
partly in order that this bad side may be gradually 
removed. 

Then, after exposing a fcAv of the fallacies which 
are still very common with regard to the cftects of 
Sport and Athletics upon individuals and upon the 
Nation and upon the Empire, I shall proceed to give 
their good effects, on the winning of our Empire and 
upon the maintenance of it both in the past and in 
the present and in the future. 

I shall then show that Ave cannot claim to hold 

489 



490 GENERAL 

our Empire or to justify our Empire without being 
ourselves a fine Nation of men : that is to say, if we 
expect to rule others and to have a right to rule 
others, we must ourselves be good men and set a good 
example. I shall therefore consider the general effects 
of Sport and Athletics in making us a fine Nation of 
good men, pointing out clearly that all the effects I 
mention are not necessarily intentional ; for there are 
plenty of things that can do us good without our being 
conscious that they do so, 

I shall make the effects clearer by a contrast. 
I shall show how our Sport and Athletics, and Games 
in particular, differ essentially from the German 
Gymnastics : for the two are apt to be confused by 
many people in Great Britain as well as outside it. 
The Germans are apt to suppose, for instance, that our 
Sport and Athletics and Games do nothing more for 
us than their Gymnastics do for them. 

There will follow a very brief general history, 
including one or two reasons why England has been 
and is so devoted to these branches of exercise. 

After this will come a special account of certain 
branches of these exercises, such as Sport in the sense 
of Shooting, &c.. Rowing, Football, Cricket, Lawn 
Tennis, &c., and Athletics. 

In conclusion, I shall sum up those points which 
I consider likely to be new to many readers, and I 
shall try to point out the direction in which wc should 
shape our future policy with regard to Sport and 
Athletics and Games and, in general, with regard to 
amusements and recreations. 

Games and Athletics and Sport are recognised as 
of very great importance to our well-being as in- 
dividuals, as a Nation, and therefore also as an imperial 
Nation : for we cannot be a good imperial Nation with- 
out being ourselves good individuals and a good 
Nation. Let me give a few proofs of this recognition. 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 491 

Looking at language, wc notice the meaning 
attaching to " a real sportsman," " fair play," " play 
the game," and many other phrases : they tell us a 
little history in themselves. Mere " Walking " and 
mere " Gymnastics " have no such forcible meaning 
attached to them. 

Another proof of the importance of these kinds 
of exercise would be the large sale of Athletic and 
Sporting Papers, and the thousands who are attracted 
to watch Cricket, Football, and other Matches. This 
applies not only to ourselves, but also to America and 
to our Colonies : in fact, the Australian crowds that 
come to watch Cricket matches are as great as ours 
and even greater. The interest in such competitions 
is scarcely less marked on the Continent. 

Another very noticeable sign would be our action 
when Ave take some new place. We do not merely 
strengthen it and set up fortifications, government- 
buildings, and churches. What else do we do ? We 
begin a Cricket ground, and perhaps a ground for 
Football, Lawn Tennis, Polo, and so on ; these come 
hardly second to the fortifications and government- 
buildings. The Englishman out there must be kept 
healthy in body and mind, and he finds that Games 
and Athletics are the best means towards this end. 

Look again at our great Public Schools, which 
have been compared to the very heart of our Nation. 
It would be terrible to think of what would happen 
to us if our Public School system were swept away, 
or if — and this comes to very nuich the same thing — 
from our Public School system were swept away our 
Athletics and our Games. 

Again, how do we choose our Public School 
Masters ? Simply ibr their social qualities ? Simply 
for the masses of information which they have 
absorbed ? Simply for their power of teaching ? No. 
The first "and the second points are taken into con- 



492 GENERAL 

sideration, but the third hardly as yet. We choose 
them partly for then- Athletic qualifications. Those 
who are admittedly the very pick of GUI' Nation, those 
who shall govern in our Colonies and in our Civil 
Service department in India and elsewhere, those we, 
with perfect confidence, give up to be trained by men 
of whom some have scarcely any qualifications apart 
from the fact that they are gentlemen and athletes 
and not absolutely ignorant. I would not see the 
system altered for worlds, except that there would be 
no haimi if Public School Masters first learnt how to 
teach ! 

More generally, we respect Athletes and '' Sports- 
men " all the world over, wherever we meet them, in 
any country. In Great Britain, in France, in Germany, 
in America, as well as in our own possessions and 
Colonies, Ave honour them immediately and make 
friends with them. We may possibly feel some 
antipathy to a German because he is a German, but 
when he has been beaten in a Game of Lawn Tennis 
and comes up to his opponent cheerfully and con- 
gratulates him, then we say " Here is a Sportsman 
who plays the game." Although we know nothing 
else about this opponent, yet Ave respect him simply 
on the strength of his sportsman-like feeling. 

I spoke just noAV of our ((;ompulsory) Games at 
Pulilic Schools. Are they good ? Probably thousands 
of mothers would say " No ; poor Tonuny may get 
hurt." But we disregard such mothers, for Ave knoAv 
better ; if little Tommy is to become a real man, he 
must be made to play Games. By the mere fact that 
nearly all Englishmen Avho have submitted to com- 
pulsory Games have advocated the system, avo shoAv 
how important avc feel these Games to be. 

Indeed, it might almost be asserted that, if Ave 
abolished Games and Athletics, as certain unhealthy 
people would have us do, and i(" wc put in their place 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 493 

more brain-work, more absorbing of information, or if 
we only did " Gymnastics at the word of command," 
we should soon cease to rule the sea and much of the 
land as well, and, what is more, we should richly 
deserve to lose our Empire. For it would be better 
for the world not to be ruled by us if we gave up our 
Sport and Athletics and Games; it would be better 
for the world to be ruled by those who had not given 
them up or by those who would consent to develop 
them. 

But these forms of exercise have their dark side ; 
it is of no use to deny the evils, for they stare us in 
the face. If I were to pass them by, not only should 
I call down upon myself a storm of criticism for my 
unfau-ness and gross exaggeration, but I should be 
failing to point out the lines of reform on which we 
certainly ought to work. I need not enter into these 
evils in detail ; a few points may be selected. 

First of all there is the letting. The betting is 
not confined to horse racing, but extends to a good 
many other branches of Sport and Athletics ; and in 
its train there follows, though less in England than 
elsewhere, a certain amount of bribery and cheating. 
Undoubtedly, also, he who knows our poorer districts 
thoroughly nuist also know the fascination which 
betting and gambling have for the masses in our 
great cities. Australia and other Colonies have suf- 
fered, and are suffering still, from this scourge. 

Secondly, there is the dark side of profemonaJism, 
which involves a good deal of local feeling and jealousy, 
as Ave see in many Football Matches. It breeds a 
rather disgusting spirit of pugnacity, and above all 
it is apt to leave the brain undeveloped. One's idea 
of a professional is that of a man who develops his 
limbs, especially his muscles, at the expense of his 
brain. 

Without denying these and other facts, we must 



494 



GENERAL 



yet remember that objections of the latter type apply 
also to the ordinary system of feeding which prevails 
among those who can afford it ; we must not condemn 
eating and drinking because so many people over-eat 
and over-drink, and thus misuse what should be a 
blessing. 

No, the question is rather this : " Granted that 
Sport and Athletics and Games have their dis- 
advantages, are these greater than, and do they out- 
weigh, the advantages ? " 

It would not be fair to proceed to the advantages 
until we have also mentioned the cruelty and hrutalism 
which is associated with a good deal of what is called 
Sport. But here once more we have to ask whether 
the killing of animals is a greater disadvantage than ill- 
health ; or we have to ask what the men who shoot and 
hunt and fish would be doing if they were not shooting 
and hunting and fishing ? If the answer is that they 
would very likely be smoking and idling and drinking 
whiskies and sodas at their Club, or perhaps doing 
something worse, then we shall decide that perhaps 
it is better foi- the present that they should be 
shooting and hunting and fishing. We can scarcely 
look upon it as the ideal of Sport, but to me at 
least it seems the better, far the better, of the two 
alternatives. 

Shooting may bring another evil, in that the land 
thus used (or, rather, for a great part of the year 
unused) might be distributed among some farmers 
and gardeners. But to-day, at any rate, there are 
not enough small farmers and gardeners who could 
make these allotments pay; we have to educate the 
classes first before we distribute the land. 

Let me finish this section with the mention of 
perhaps the worst type of Sporting man. Now there 
are some who call themselves Christians, and at the 
same time are among the most uncharitable and 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 495 

narrow-mindetl and cruel people in the world ; ihoy 
stand in the way of every kind of real reform. We 
recoo-nise their existence, but we call them caricatures 
of Christianity. We say, " You must not judge 
Christianity by them, any more than you must judge 
a man's appearance by the likenesses of him in the 
Comic Papers." And so it is with those terribly 
" horsey " men who idle about, often with their mouths 
wide open, and their heads quite empty ; who wear 
riding-breeches and perhaps spurs, and who are 
frequently to be heard betting or swearing, or to be 
seen drinking whiskies and sodas and smoking. 
They seldom take exercise : the worst types hardly 
ever ride. These are not Sportsmen, they are merely 
caricatures. We recognise their existence, but we 
do not class them as real Sportsmen or Athletes, or 
even as gentlemen. 

Having mentioned a few of the evils, let me now 
expose one or two fallacies about Games and Ath- 
letics and Sport. And let me first guard against any 
exaggerated views on the subject. 

Thus it is a fallacy to suppose that these kinds of 
exercise are either altogether good or altogether bad. 
In some respects they are excellent and indispensable : 
in other respects they are bad or even execrable. In 
fact they may, according to the way in which they are 
used, develop some of the very highest and noblest 
feelings of which man is capable, or some of the very 
lowest and basest. 

There are many fallacies about the true ohjcct and 
aim of these branches of exercise. Some hold that 
mere success is the object and aim. As we think of 
professionals, and of those amateurs Avho are almost 
professionals, a number of such people are brought 
before our mind : their great object seems to be to win 
at their particular branch of Sport. This means that 
they aim at acquiring skill, strength, endurance, and so 



496 GENERAL 

on, in this particular branch : they train for this and 
for this alone. 

Scarcely less fallacious is the view that these 
exercises are mere recreations, to give us relief after 
hard brain-work ; that theu' sole object is to enable 
people to rest then brains, so as to work better with 
their brains afterwards. There are thousands w^ho hold 
that Games do nothing whatever to develop the brain, 
e.g. the power of reasoning and the moral character; 
they say that Games develop only the muscles. I 
have never yet been able to convince a German that 
our Games do more for us than their Gymnastics 
would. 

Or some may say that, directl}- or indirectly, Games 
conduce towards physical health, and that they are for 
this reason justifiable. The open air, they say, is a 
good thing, and so is exercise, for these improve the 
circulation, and so on. 

These views as to the objects and aims of Games, 
Athletics, and Sport are to some extent true ; though 
each gives only one aspect of the truth. It is indeed 
important to improve and succeed in one's particular 
branch of Sport ; it is indeed important to use it as a 
means of recreation and as a help towards brain-work ; 
and it is still more important to regard it as a means 
of physical health : all this is true, but there is much 
more that is equally true, as we shall see directly. 

So far from Games necessarily militating against 
brain-work, as some would have us suppose, they ought 
rather to be a help towards it, and they ought to be 
nearly the best kind of brain-work that there is. That 
they are not so, is partly due to the fact that we do 
not yet realise their true spirit, that we have never 
had before us the ideal, that we have omitted to note 
the many intellectual and moral excellences which 
they miglit develop, as well as the physical excellences 
and the enjoyment of life ; without which develop- 



SPORT AND ATHLETTCS 497 

ments we shall be unable and unfitted to <;ain further 
Empue, to hold what we have, or to rule it as we 
should rule it. 

Having exposed these few fallacies, we may now 
consider some of the advanta«:es which these exercises 
have brought for the British Empire. 

One of the most urgent topics of the day must be, 
" What is the connection, at the present moment, 
between ourselves and our Colonies : Avhat has bound 
us together, what binds us together now, and what 
will bind us together in the future ? " For we may 
be sure that what has bound us together in the past 
will be likely to bind us together in the future. 

Among the chief bonds of union are points of resem- 
blance. We resemble the Australian colonists, for 
example, in our appearance, our dress, our traditions, 
our customs, and so on ; but among the strongest 
points of similarity are our forms of Sport and Ath- 
letics. Neither of the two peoples cares for the Gym- 
nastic system, neither of us cares for mere brain-work. 
In both England and Australia there is a love of 
Sport in general, such as fishing, shooting, and hunt- 
ing ; of Rowing, of Cricket, of Football, of Lawn Tennis, 
and other Ball-games ; wherever we see these forms of 
Athletics, to some extent we feel ourselves at home. 
But this is far from being all that we owe to them. 
They are far more than a bond of union. 

I shall pass over many minor points, though some 
of them might be of great interest : thus I shall not 
dwell on the effect of Sport upon discovery. A good 
deal of country has been opened up by those who have 
gone chiefly in search of game ; this search has led 
to discovery incidentally, and the excitement of it has 
fostered a spirit of pluck, daring enterprise, and self- 
reliance. 

The South African War has shown us the close 
analogy between War, Sport, and Athletics. Those 

v 2 I 



498 GENERAL 

■who have excelled in the latter have been among the 
first to volunteer and to succeed in the former. One 
can recall many instances where a bold dash by a 
soldier has seemed almost exactly the same thing as 
a bold dash by a Huntsman or a Football-player. 

Nor shall I say much about Rowing, although it 
has done very much to help our naval power. We 
might almost say that our naval power was begotten 
upon our rivers and upon our coasts, which will still 
supply it with its materials ready-trained for the open 
sea. We are richer in naval reserve than other Nations 
can hope to be ; and this is partly (though far fi*om 
entirely) due to our cultivation of Rowing as a branch 
of Athletics, for instance at Regattas. If we think for 
a moment of what a mighty power our navy has been 
in History, even in land-battles, we shall see that 
the effect of Athletics upon our Empire is by no means 
small, if we consider this point alone. 

But the real ettect goes far beyond this. Games 
and Athletics are admirable practice in the right way 
of hearing defeat and " playing a losing game." He 
who is used to being defeated in Games and Athletics. 
and to bearing defeat like a man, with the intention 
of correcting his weaknesses between this competition 
and the next, has learnt a very great lesson ; and, by 
the very training of his limbs, he Avill have lessened 
the chance of defeat in the future. It has been chiefly 
by Athletics that so many of our soldiers and sailors 
and colonists have learnt never to be beaten. 

Victory also has been helped by Games and Ath- 
letics, which, as wc shall see below, have developed 
certain qualities indispensable to victory. 

But they have also trained us to use our victories, 
Avhich is a still more important matter. The Spartans 
of old were great victory- winners, but they were poor 
victory-users. They failed to hold and to make their 
own that which they had bravely won by training, by 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 499 

bravery, and by obedience. The fact that \vu do know 
how to use our victories and conquests is partly due 
to Athletic competitions. 

The Romans of old were not mere conquerors, but 
held the conquered peoples as willing subjects, impart- 
ing to them the blessings and privileges which they 
themselves enjoyed. And we do the same. To thuse 
whom we conquer we impart our blessings and privi- 
leges, and among them not the least are Games, and 
Athletics, and Sport. 

We cannot realise this until we look into the Ger- 
man colonies. No one would deny to the Germans 
very great military ability : they can win land well 
enough, and their discipline is admirable ; but it is 
not likely that their rule will ever suit the Southern 
races : it is too heavy and ponderous. Now lue do not 
merely rule people with the rule of iron, but we admit 
them to our own life ; we do not treat them like slaves, 
but we say to them, for example, " Come and play 
Football," or " Have a try at Cricket." This is surely 
one way to their respect and also to their affection and 
loyalty. We bring them something which is not only 
useful, but also pleasant. 

For they do respect us as Athletes and Sportsmen. 
Let hostile Nations say what they will, these qualities 
must be respected wherever they are found. In such 
competitions conquerors and conquered can meet on 
equal terms without that familiarity which elsewhere 
might breed contempt. 

Besides this, our Sport and Games make us a 
healthy people, and they tend to make us ojjcn-mmded ; 
and rulers always should be healthy and open-minded. 
Opcn-mindedness is not nuich encouraged by our 
brain-education in England, but it is encouraged by 
our Games and Athletics. Here a player has a right 
to do that which will '■ score," that which common- 
sense urges him to do, provided that it is not unfair. 



500 GENERAL 

In other words, our Games are open to changes for 
the better ; in them Ave do not, so slavishly as else- 
where, follow the fashion, the ideas of past generations. 
The rule of such people who are thus trained to judge 
things by their merits, and to accept what is new, pro- 
vided only that it is good for the particular purpose 
and also fair, must be a far greater blessing to the 
ruled, than the system of those who force upon alien 
races the customs which they have found best for their 
own country. We have still much to learn here, but 
our method is at any rate more open-minded than that 
of any other Nation. 

We shall see below that those Exercises into which 
the spirit of competition enters will help to hreak doivn 
harriers between various classes. This point I leave for 
the present, except to say that, with an imperial 
Nation, Games may have a similar effect in reconcil- 
ing it with other Nations. They may help to do away 
with the exclusive national spirit which is only the 
petty jealousy of one Greek City-state (like Athens) 
for another (like Sparta or Thebes), magnified and on 
a large scale. 

Perhaps it is not every one who has realised that 
Football, Lawn Tennis, Cricket, and Athletics are 
likely to make us friendly with other Nations, and to 
make us appreciate their good points, and to remove 
our jealousy and hatred and contempt for them and 
with theirs for us. The recent Atliletic Competition 
between Harvard and Yale and Oxford and Cambridge, 
four great Universities, opened the eyes of English 
people to qualities which they had scarcely suspected 
in Americans : for instance, the power to boar defeat in 
a manly and sportsmanlike Avay. Few things will do 
more to make us respect the Germans than the Foot- 
ball-Matches and the Lawn Tennis Toiu'naments, in 
which latter, at any rate, there is little or nothing to 
choose between the Germans and Austrians and many 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 501 

other peoples, and ourselves, so far as fair play and 
manliness are concerned. 

Between Nations there is a o;reat deal uf unfairness 
and treachery : we may call it diplomacy, but that is 
only a thin veil for dishonesty. The law of honour, 
though stricter now than it was of old, is not yet 
nearly strict enough ; there is too much of the com- 
mercial and grasping spirit. An antidote is sadly 
needed, and this antidote is to be found in Games and 
Athletics. Here one Nation can meet another and 
contend with absolute honesty and good-feeling ; the 
struggle is by no means unimportant, and may rouse 
the interest and partisanship of thousands or millions ; 
yet the competition, whether it be yachting or some 
Game, may go on with perfect good-feeling ; there need 
be no dishonesty. The conquered may congratulate 
the conquerors, and the conquerors may respect the 
conquered. So far from the victory or defeat produc- 
ing a bad feeling, as a War or a commercial rivalry or 
almost any rivalry is nearly bound to do, so far from 
this being the case. Athletic Competitions may bring 
the Nations far closer together and make them more 
real friends than before. 

But we have not yet justified our Empire in the 
eyes of the world. I have read in numerous Papers 
and Pam})hlets lately that our Empire is a curse to 
the world. The world must admit that we are one of 
the strongest Nations : it would be useless for the world 
to deny it, as useless in fact as it Avould be to deny that 
we have won our Empire and do still hold it, and that 
it brings us in a vast mass of trade, commerce, and 
Avealth, and a great deal of power besides. Ever}- one 
will admit that it is ours by right of conquest, that it is 
very large, and a mine of wealth ; but Ave must not be 
content with this. We must justify our Empire by 
showing that it is for the benefit of our subjects and 
colonists. 



502 GENERAL 

The manner of our winning our Empire and tlie 
primary motives and reasons for its conquest or ac- 
quisition, are not always so easy to justify : in fact, I 
doubt if we can justifj^ it on strict grounds of morality; 
this is a very vexed question, and, however we may 
defend the manner and the motives, some will be sure to 
dispute our arguments. No : we had far better justify 
our imperial rule by its results, which means to say that 
we had far better answer our critics by showing that 
we are a good Nation, a healthy Nation, a fair Nation, 
and not mere bullies ; that we are ready to give others 
our own blessings. This is much safer than to assert 
that in winning our Empire we have always been in 
the right. 

If we can prove that we are a good Nation, then 
we can justify ourselves in continuing to hold what we 
have, and possibly even in extending our Empire. 
" International Morality " is not yet sufficiently a 
Science to enable us to dogmatise. 

Here I need only consider how far the good 
qualities of our Nation are due to Sport, Games, and 
Athletics. It is worth while to inquire into this, if 
only in order that Ave may know just what to en- 
courage and what to discouraoe. Let us therefore 
consider the good effects of these kinds of Athletics 
upon us as a Nation and as a collection of individuals. 

First of all comes physical fitness, nnich of which, 
however, might be the result of Gymnastics and mere 
walking and running. But there is this point to be 
constantly borne in mind. Most people refuse to take 
exercise .simply for the sake of health ; they demand 
some object. Germany has mihtary success as her 
object for her Gymnastics. England encourages people 
to take exercise by means of Sport and Games and 
Athletics ; these must have saved the health of thou- 
sands of men who Avould otherwise have been merely 
rich loafers and good-for-nothings. Such people will 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 503 

not go out for a walk ; still less will they go into a 
Gymnasiuai ; many of them will not even ride for the 
sake of riding ; but they will play Games and they 
will hunt, for here they have an immediate object, the 
pleasure and the excitement and the social intercourse. 

Thus there come to thousands or even millions 
strength, endurance, and activity, and also health ; 
and jihysical health 7neans an increased health of mind 
and health of moral character. Past History tells us 
that Nations have been healthy in body before they 
have been brilliant in intellect, and healthy and sound 
in morale, and that, conversely, their bodily and 
physical health and excellence have decayed before 
their intellectual and moral excellence. 

One of the reasons would be that the blood which 
supplies the brain passes through the limbs of the 
body as Avell. If these limbs are sluggish and un- 
exercised, the blood which flows to the brain will be of 
a poor quality, and perhaps laden with poison. 

Much of the blood's purity depends on the taking 
in of the open air. In a hot Lecture-room, and in an 
average Church, we notice that people's veins some- 
times stand out with the dark and poisoned blood ; 
this is not that bright red blood which is rich in 
oxygen. Open air is a real necessity for health ; we 
are beginning to recognise this in England in the 
treatment of Consumption. Now it is chiefly exercise 
that will give us this air, and the form of exercise 
which people prefer is a Game, or some other kind of 
Athletics, or else some branch of Sport. 

By this means, also, people see our beautiful 
country instead of staying in their own rooms in 
the city. We might extend the words jviSl aeavroi' 
" Know yourself," and say yiwOi tu a-eauroC, " Know 
all that is your own." Every one ought to knoio his 
own country as well as his own character, and he Avill 
see a great deal of the best of it, e.g., in Lawn Tennis 



504 GENERAL 

Tournaments, on Cricket and Football tours, and when 
he hunts or fishes. It is a duty of every Englishman 
to know his own country : it is true that by this means 
he will only know it incidentally, and perhaps without 
intending to know it at all, but he will none the less 
be benefited by the knowledge. 

And patriotism must come from the knowledge also. 
For who can know our country without loving it ? 

We shall soon recognise the importance of enjoy- 
ment as well. Experiments have been made which 
show that during enjoyment, and during anger and 
discontent and other feelings, the quality of the blood 
is completely different. Those who are aware how the 
blood permeates the whole body must see that enjoy- 
ment, which affects its very nature most favourably, 
must be good for the whole body. Now among enjoy- 
ments we must reckon such amusements as the reading 
of Novels, many of which are grossly unwholesome, 
and the music-halls, and so on, as well as Games and 
Athletics. There is no need to say which kind of 
enjoyment and amusement is likely to be the healthier 
for the body and the mind. 

But Athletics, Games, and Sports do not merely 
give us physical fitness, strength, endurance, activity, 
and health ; they do not merely bring us into the 
open air, where we can breathe in oxygen, and admire 
our own country, and come to love it, and where we 
can get wholesome pleasure : for they can also serve as 
a nerve-educator. 

A hard Match or a long-distance run may be a 
grand exercise for the nerves. It is hard to define 
what is meant by the nerves, and it may be better to 
say what the nerves include. 

Proni'ptititde is one sign of good nerves : it is not 
the same as rapidity, for a fast runner is not always 
prompt and ready to start. It is in prom23titude that 
we contrast so favourably with the Germans, who are 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 505 

very good when once they have hegun to move, but 
are too apt to wait for the word which shall start 
them. 

Good nerves also mean calmness, which is necessary 
when no particular promptitude is needed. Here we 
contrast favourably with the French, who seem always 
excited and on the qui vive, even where there is no 
cause for excitement. 

Thirdly, good nerves must include self-control, 
which coiues to people not only through Athletics, 
but also partly through the training for Athletics, 
where a man learns to say sternly to himself, e.g. 
for a whole fortnight : " You want to smoke and drink, 
but you shall not." 

Patience, which is closely akin to calmness and 
closely akin to self-control, could also be acquired by 
mere Gymnastics, but it is acquhed by Games as well. 

Pluck can also be developed by mere exercise and 
Gymnastics, but not to the same extent. Englishmen 
are the pluckiest people in the world, though the 
French may be considerably more rash. 

But, above all. Games and Athletics develop a 
strict sense of honour. Not only have the written laws 
to be obeyed, but the unwritten laws also, and this — 
generally speaking — marks off Athletics and Commerce 
distinctly from one another. For, in the latter, the 
unwritten laws of honour are too often sadly neglected. 
When I was in Homburg lately, at the Lawn Tennis 
Tournament, I was very much struck with the way in 
which Germans and Austrians and others would correct 
the umpire's decision when it had been given wrongly 
and in their own favour. This is in LaAvn Tennis, 
and it seems appropriate liere. We should not often 
expect such nobility in Commerce. 

Games and Athletics also give us great respect 
for other Nations (as we saw above), and also for other 
Classes. In this sphere we see competition in its ideal 



5o6 GENERAL 

form : nowhere else is defeat so well taken, nowhere 
else is victory so well taken. 

And perhaps here only in life do we find anything 
like a really fair system of " Handicaps " : elsewhere the 
weaker too often goes to the wall. But in Games and 
Athletics, to an increasing extent, people are judiciously 
handicapped so that the weakest are put on a level 
with the strongest. Handicaps should be used even 
more freely than they are at present. 

These Athletic competitions give the ideal, not 
only of Competition, in which they set a pattern for 
Commerce, but also in mutual help and co-operation. 
In Cricket and Football, each player tries to do his 
best in his own sphere, but also his best as a member 
of his team. He helps others, and they help him, all 
contributing together to the success of the side. This 
is a siarn — if not the sio-n — of advanced civilisation. 

Another sign of it is that, besides this nuitual 
help, there is a great deal of iwhpemlence, especially in 
Sport, in racing, and in " Singles " at various Games. 
Originality and " Self-activity " (as Froebel called it) 
is essential in Education, and it is found especially in 
our Games. 

They also encourage us to look ahead beyond the 
immediate present, somewhat as Chess should do. 
Thus a cricketer should bowl not only with a view to 
a particular ball, but also in order to lead up to another 
ball : e.g. he sends three fast balls so as to prepare the 
way for a slow ball. 

The social infiucnce of Games can scarcely be over- 
estimated. Football perhaps comes at the top of the 
list, even though it is very liable to abuse. Games 
and Athletics will do a world of good in abolishing 
the barrier between Class and Class. The poor are 
apt til liiitc (»r envy the rich who are luxurious and 
idle, and these in thcii- tiu-n are apt to despise the 
poor as being uneducated and dirty. But in Games 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 507 

and Athletics the two meet on equal terms : merit at 
once comes to the fore. No favour is shown to the 
man who has eaten a huge champagne-lunch and 
smoked expensive cigars, as compared with the man 
Avho has only had his bread and cheese. Games and 
Athletics are splendid levellers. 

Besides this they bring the sexes together in a 
pleasant way. It is much better that they should 
meet at some form of Athletics than at the typical 
crowded At-Houies: the mere intercourse is good at 
all times, but it is best that it should be in the open 
air and that the occasion should be healthy. 

The most hopeless classes of all in our laud are 
the idle rich men and the idle rich women : to the 
former, Sport will perhaps appeal, and, to the latter. 
Bicycling. It seems almost the only chance, the only 
redeeming feature, in these wretches, that they take 
exercise. We must bless the incentive which makes 
them do so, and we must bless Athletics also as a 
means of giving other people a healthy profession in 
the open air : they are excellent for this reason. 

And so we come back to health once more, and we 
mud come back to it and insist upon it to-day, because 
city-life is takiny the place of country-life ; although, of 
course, the suburbs of cities are growing and are in 
easy connection Avith the cities. But there is none the 
less a real need for " artificial " exercise, that is to 
say, for Games and Athletics. If Ave are to be a great 
Nation, Ave must get some substitute for our farmer and 
free labourer classes, Avhich used to be the very backbone 
of England, and Avas the backbone of early Greece and 
Rome. We need more indoor Games (b}' electric light 
in the evenings) in Avell-ventilated buildings in cities. 
New York and Boston set us a good example here. 

All this is ideal. It leaves out of sight a great deal 
of the bad side of Games and Athletics and Sport : the 
advantages are rarely realised, and often are not to be 



5o8 GENERAL 

seen at all, but yet it is as well that we should see tlie 
ideal and the full advantages, and work towards them. 
Thus, if a Football-player thinks that Football is merely 
a means of earning a sum, e.g. ten shillings, and that it 
is nothing beside and beyond this, then Football will 
do him only a small amount of good. But once point 
out to him that it has a higher side, that he, as a 
Sportsman, is doing for his country perhaps as much 
as the soldier is doing in War, perhaps more, and you 
turn that Football into something better than it was 
before, viz. into a means of educating the man ; you 
put Football on its highest level, which is its proper 
level : the man miist play it, and it is as well that he 
should see its noblest side. The executioner's job is 
an unpleasant one, but the executioner gains nothing 
by dwelling upon this side of it : he had better dwell 
upon its less ignoble side. 

The above points will be made clearer by contrast ; 
and therefore I now proceed to a twofold contrast. 

First let us consider the Germcm Gymnastic System. 
Does this produce endurance ? Yes. Skill ? Yes. 
Discipline and obedience ? Yes, a great deal of this. 
But originality ? Very little. Promptitude ? Very 
little also, except " at the Avord of command." Honour 
and fairness ? Scarcely at all. Enjoyment ? It is very 
difficult to say; we Englishmen should say no. 

' Brain-work, again, must be contrasted with Athletics, 
although of course one can only speak very generally. 
A common English idea of brain-work is chiefly (alas !) 
to reproduce the ideas of some other people, especially 
when these ideas are given in a Text-book : originality 
is little encouraged. I speak from the experience of 
five years at good Private Schools, of five years at a 
good Public School, and of many years at the Univer- 
sity : throughout all this education there has been 
scarcely any exception to niy experiences. Originality 
and " Self-activity " were incessantly discouraged. 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 509 

Does such an education develop endurance ? Yes. 
Skill ? Possibly a little. Discipline ? Yes, plenty of 
it. Promptitude ? Very little, except in so far as 
reproducing certain " Answers " is concerned : a new 
question, which means that the old material has to 
be quickly rearranged, will often puzzle the average 
learner. He will say that he has not learnt the answer 
to that question. Does it encourage origmality, then ? 
No, scarcely at all. Nor yet does it encourage open- 
mindedness, and the readiness to learn what is best in 
the new and to unlearn what is worst in the old : it 
does not encourage people to change what is customary, 
even when conscience says that this is utterly wrong. 
Does it encourage honour ? Perhaps a little, though it 
is hard to say ; but certainly not to the same extent 
as Games and Athletics do. It is not thoufjht to be 
clever to cheat in Games and Athletics, as it some- 
times is thought to be at lessons. 

Many lessons then would be a great contrast to 
these kinds of exercises. 

And what of the social influence of such Educa- 
tion ? Does it tend to do away with class distinctions, 
does it tend to make people who are educated under- 
stand and sympathise with the uneducated and illiterate ? 
Does it reconcile Nation with N ation ? Most remark- 
ably little. 

The reader will naturally ask why, if Sport can do 
all this, it has not actually produced more effect in the 
past ? I answer that it has produced very great effects 
in the past, and that it will produce still greater effects 
in the future, as soon as Ave thoroughly realise what 
can be done by means of it. At present it has not 
been able to produce anything like its proper effects, 
because its importance has been underestimated by 
many of those who are managing affairs for us in this 
country. 

I can only devote a few lines to the liistor}' of 



5IO GENERAL 

Sport and Athletics; but the history can easily be 
obtained in detail from the special treatises in special 
books, for instance, in the Badminton and Isthmian 
Libraries. Shorter accounts will be found in the 
" Encyclopaedia Britannica." 

Some kinds of Sport and Athletics have developed 
naturally : for example, throwing, walking, and running 
are all natural for us, and hunting and fishing must have 
originated partly in the search for food. 

Some kinds have originated in some one place, or 
in some one county, or in England itself, and these 
have spread to other places and other counties and 
other countries, and to other Nations. Dr. Schmidt, 
the great German authority on Sport, candidly recog- 
nises the vast debt of other Nations to England with 
regard to Rowing Athletics. Scotland has originated 
Golf, or at least has nursed it — Golf which gives such 
splendid open-air exercise and interest to those who 
are advanced in life. 

From us many kinds of Athletics have spread to 
our Colonies, and even to other Nations, and they have 
become, and will become more and more, year by year, 
a help towards international peace. How few would 
have dreamt in the distant past that Football would 
ever have been a means to this desirable end ! I 
believe that International Congresses for Athletics and 
Games will do more for mutual understanding, and 
therefore for mutual respect among Nations, than 
almost any other single iniiuence. 

Besides this extension of Athletics, we notice their 
adoption in education, of which as a rule they now 
form an integral part. Even a foreigner like Froebel 
could recognise Games for children as an essential 
factor in their education ; though in England, and to 
a greater extent in Germany and elsewhere, exercise of 
this kind is still too often regarded as " frivolous " and 
as opposed to true Education with a l>ig E. This is 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 511 

the opinion of those who think that Education means to 
absorb a vast number of facts by reading and listening. 

As we have seen, some people, and they by no 
means few in number, consider a great deal of Sport 
to be brutalising in its effects. This is true of some 
Sport, especially of that which gives the animals no 
chance whatever to escape. Football and Boxing can 
also be brutalising. But there is this to be noticed, that 
whereas these Sports, or at any rate the brutal parts 
of them, are scarcely on the increase, Games and 
Athletics are increasing with almost incredible rapidity; 
that is to say, the very meaning of the word Sport is 
altering. Abroad it includes a large number of Games 
and Athletic Competitions in which there is scarcely 
any, if there is any, degrading tendency. It is no 
longer a term confined to the killing of animals. It 
might be desired that eventually this aspect of Sport 
will die out altogether ; it certainly will, I think, if we 
can make the other branches of Sport and Athletics 
equally interesting and equally healthy. 

Why should England have been the birthplace of 
so much of Sport and Athletics ? I will only suggest 
one or two reasons, though it would be an interesting 
topic to discuss in detail. 

First of all, ours is a small Island, and within it 
there is much rivalry, much love of competition : this 
asserts itself partly in Games. In many Greek States 
it asserted itself in political quarrels. 

Moreover, our country is a good country for every 
kind of Athletics: whether it be Walking?, Running, 
Shooting, Hunting, Riding, Fishing, Rowing, Cricket, 
Football, Lawn Tennis, we could scarcely wish for a 
better land. It is a cold country too, and its climate 
is such that many people feel seedy ; for instance, they 
get a " liver " if they do not take exercise : their liver 
compels them to move, and their favourite movement 
is Sport or Games or Athletics. 



512 GENERAL 

The Nations of the world have hardly realised yet 
what they would lose if v^e lost our independence 
and with it our free system of Games, or if we lost 
our Empire. I hope that these pages may meet then 
eyes and may enlighten them a little. 

The evils of Games and Sport still continue ; 
indeed some seem to be actually on the increase. 
But, before this aspect in the history be thoroughly 
condemned, let us look for a moment at Commerce, 
and I think it will be found that the evils there are 
far greater. Moreover the evils in Athletics and 
Games are being removed by various Societies and 
Clubs such as the Rugby Union, the Lawn Tennis 
Association, and the Marylebone Cricket Club. And, 
above all, the evils are outweighed by the manifold 
blessings. 

These blessings will perhaps be made a little 
clearer, and brought a little nearer home to the reader, 
from a few examples. I will therefore now give a few 
notes on special forms of Sport, from which I must ex- 
clude Gymnastics (for instance, the Swedish Health 
Gymnastics), and walking, running, and riding when 
they are practised merely as exercise. Of course all 
these exercises have important effects, but they are not 
included in the words Sport or Games or Athletics, 
the two latter of which terms refer especially to com- 
petitions. 

Sport, in the sense of game-killing, improves en- 
din-ance and strength, and encourages people to travel 
and see the country instead of the city. It is in the 
open air and Ijrings with it much enjoyment ; and it is 
a great incentive to walking. Beagling may also be 
included here. There are many to whom the whole 
thing is repugnant ; these have much reason, but they 
should also Aveigh the other side of the question. 
As we said above. Sport is an apt preparation for 
soldiering. 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 513 

Hunting is an inducement to riding ; hut the ad- 
vantages of riding arc too numerous to he mentioned 
here. Hunting, apart from its social influences, chiefly 
justifies itself as being an incentive to induce those 
people to ride who would not ride otherwise. 

Rowing is good training for many purposes, and 
partly for the Navy. It enables tlio rower (or the 
rowed) to see some of the most beautiful parts of the 
country and gives them pure cool air: moreover it is 
splendid exercise. 

Football at its best is perhaps nearly the perfec- 
tion of a Game : and it breeds so many of those quali- 
ties which every Nation should have. Thus, if I were 
asked what would be the best test that a person could 
give of being able to rule in India, I should say that 
he had been Captain of a Football eleven or fifteen, or 
of a Cricket eleven. Such qualities as co-operation 
promptitude, discipline, and pluck, and the power of 
playing an uphill game — all these may and should be 
developed by Football. 

Moreover it employs huge numbers of plaj^ers ; 
the Game is over quickly ; and it is admirable exercise. 
Besides this, we can think of nothing better which the 
players Avould be likely to be doing if they were not 
playing Football. 

And this is not all : for Football makes hundreds 
of people come into the open air to Avatch it ; this is 
better than that they should be listening to a Lecture 
in a badly-ventilated room, and better still, than that 
they should be spending their afternoon at a cluh or 
at a music-hall or theatre ; for Football at its best is a 
fine game to watch. And it is spreading among other 
people ; for instance, among the French and Germans. 

But, unfortunately, it cannot (as a rule) be kept up 
till late in life, and accidents are not infrequent. 

Cricket also develops many of the above qualities, 
such as promptitude ; it also is in the open air, and 
V 2 K 



514 GENERAL 

draws people out into the open air to watch it. It 
also is a good Game to watch, and is spreading among 
other people. But it takes too long for busy men, and 
in it there is a good deal of idle waiting. These 
Games are splendid for the Nation, in that they tend 
to do away with class-distinctions. 

Golf is a less violent Game, and appeals to those 
thousands who cannot or will not play Football, and 
especially to the older men, and to many ladies, who 
would not take much exercise otherwise. But it is 
very expensive. 

Cycling, like Golf, can be tried by older men, and 
it is in the open air, and gives a good chance of seeing 
fine scenery. It has its millions of devotees who be- 
fore used to move about by carriage or tram or bus 
or train. But Cycling, except for racing purposes, is 
hardly a " Sport "; and for racing purposes it is hardly 
a Sport either — at least as it is practised at present ! 

All the Ball-Games are branches of Sport, and, of 
the Racket-Games, La^n Tennis is far the most popular. 
It is usually a gentle and social form of exercise, which 
is good for ladies. Of its many merits I have spoken 
in " Lessons in Lawn Tennis " (published by Upcott 
Gill). 

Fives differs from most other Games in that it exer- 
cises both sides, the left hand and arm as well as the 
right : it is very healthy also, and, like Lawn Tennis, 
can be kept up till fairly late in life. 

As to Tennis, Rackets, and Squash-Rackets, I am 
prejudiced in their favour ; but I consider them to be 
ideal Games in every way except that they are expen- 
sive and are seldom in the open air. Squash-Tennis 
(an American Game) is one of the best and cheapest 
Games in the world. It can be played in cities in the 
evening by artificial light. 

Boxing is splendid exercise. The man who can 
defend himself has more confidence in protecting the 



SPORT AND ATHLKTICS 515 

weak, and this is a most valuable quality in any 
Nation of rulers : he is self-reliant ; and, if he does 
not abuse his power, the good boxer is much nearer to 
what a man should be. 

As to Athletics, such as putting the weight, throw- 
ing the hammer, and running, they are good partly 
for the training they involve (which, however, might 
be more scientific), and partly for their encouragement 
of endurance and speed and other excellences. 

Let me now sum up those points in the above 
pages which may bo most useful as well as most new 
to many of my readers. 

Sport, Games, and Athletics are valuable not merely 
because they produce success, and especially skill, 
strength, and endurance ; nor merely because they pro- 
duce health, though health in itself would be almost 
a sufficient object to justify the exercise ; nor merely 
because they are in the open air, and help people to 
know their own country, and thus to love their own 
country ; nor merely because they bring pleasure of an 
innocent and wholesome kind ; nor merely because they 
improve the nerve-power, the promptitude, cahnness, 
self-control, patience, pluck, honour, and fairness, and 
respect for others, qualities most essential in any Nation 
which is to rule others ; nor merely because they show 
almost the ideal of competition and of co-operation ; 
nor merely because they are a great social influence, 
breaking down barriers between sex and sex, and be- 
tween class and class ; nor merely because they have 
helped to train many for the Army and Navy, and 
have led to travel and enterprise and discovery. 

Their value has been beyond this, though it has 
included a great deal of this ; for they have shown 
people how to bear defeat, how to get victories and 
to use tlicm, not by imposing an iron rule on the 
conquered, but by making the rule popular and the 
rulers respected and imitated, by making the subjects 



5i6 GENERAL 

healthier, and by forming with them a bond of union 
which is ah'eady one of the strongest and is Hkely to 
grow stronger every year. Moreover — and this is a 
vital point — such a bond of union within the Nation 
itself and between it and its Empire will not cut off 
the Nation and its Empire from other Nations, but will 
rather help to bind the whole world together. For in 
Games and Athletics, and scarcely in any other sphere, 
can Nations compete without ill-feeling; and by this 
especially will they come to respect and to admire one 
another. Games and Athletics are the best Inter- 
national Language which the ivorld has ever seen. 

Not only have Games and Athletics helped us to 
gain an Empire, but they have also helped us to keep 
it, and to rule it well. They have made the rulers fit 
to rule, for they have made them healthy and honour- 
able, and in fact have developed in them such qualities 
as all ruling peoples of the future will have to possess 
if indeed their rule is to be permanent. 

Let me conclude, then, with a few warnings based 
on the above remarks. 

I need hardly ask the reader to read these pages 
with an open mind : to criticise and alter my vicAvs as 
freely as he likes, but first to weigh them fairly in the 
balance, and to try to avoid any of those extreme views 
which he will so often hear advocated. 

He must not listen to those who would have exer- 
cise take the place of brain -work, especially if the 
brain-work be the mere absorbing of information. If 
it be, then I consider the other extreme to be the 
safer. I would sooner have Jack a healthy athlete 
than a weedy pedant. 

No : now especially, when country-life is giving 
way more and more to city-life, let him not in any way 
support those who would increase the amount of brain- 
work for our Nation, .iiid for our young in particular, 
who would decrease the amount of exercise, especially 



SPORT AND ATHLETICS 517 

of exercise in the form of Sport and Athletics ; for 
this is its most interesting form. 

On the other hand let him resist any attempt to let 
idleness or loafing take the place of exercise. Any 
movement which will foster this type of " amusement " 
is to be discarded : exercise is far better. Above all, 
let him oppose the worst type of " amusement," and 
let him work against the ascendency, e.g., of the many 
unhealthy entertainments in badly-ventilated buildings. 
These are as vile a disgrace to us as our Athletics are 
a glorious credit. 

In order to achieve this work, he will have to 
justify the claims of Athletics, and he will better be 
able to do this if he removes from them their chief 
faults, e.g. the pursuit of Athletics for the sake of 
money or prizes or mere victory, the low play of pro- 
fessionals, the brutalism of Sport, and other evils. 

Let him see the ideal of Athletics, and let hiry 
then make it clear to every one else ; let him recognise 
our debt to it in the past, and let him acknowledge 
the increasing value of Athletics in the future as city- 
life grows, and as our Empire grows, and therefore as 
more people are to be affected and influenced by us 
as individuals and as a Nation. 

For, as we are, so they in theii' turn will become, 
while we are their rulers. And this, we hope, will be 
for many a century to come. 

The World, and America and our Colonies in 
particular, little realise their vast debt to England. 
Our National Debt seems great, but the debt of the 
World to us is far greater : we have given our 
Athletics to the World. Is it not time that in our 
turn we borrowed the best and most adaptable ideas 
that other Nations can oti'er us ? Can we not study 
with advantage how a thousand Americans can get 
healthy exercise in a single building, in a crowded 
city, when business hours are over ? We love Sport 



5i8 GENERAL 

but we have yet much to learn about it and about 
other matters. " Freely ye have received, freely give." 
England has freely given. Now let her change the 
text, and say to her subjects, " Freely ye have given, 
freely receive." Let England freely choose and freely 
take what lies open. There is no monopoly of exer- 
cise — thank Heaven ! There never will be an Exercise 
" Trust." By adopting new ideas, England will benefit 
herself without hurting any other Nation. 



MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE BRITISH 

EMPIRE 



By R. G. CORBET 

It is a hackneyed saying that Great Britain is the 
most important Moslem Power in the world. At first 
sight, when the imagination conjures up a vision of 
the vast areas under the Tsar, the Son of Heaven and 
the Sultan peopled by Mohammedans, this assertion 
appears somewhat rash : but a glance at statistics, so 
far as these are obtainable on the subject, will soon 
satisfy us that it is not. 

The Ottoman Empire has but something over three 
million Mohammedan subjects in Europe, and twelve 
in Asia : so, if we add to these the entire population 
over which Abdul Hamid Khan rules in Africa — and 
which, like that of Bokhara and Khiva, is practically 
all Moslem — we merely bring the total to a little over 
sixteen millions. In the Middle Kingdom the Moham- 
medans are estimated at about thirty-two ; and they 
do not attain to six in Russia, even when its vassal 
States are joined to it. 

Let us look a moment at the fiijfures : — 

Moslems in Euroj^ean 

Turkey . . . 3,350,000 
MoslemsinAsiaticTurkey 1 2,000,000 
Population of African 

Turkey 



Moslems in Russia . 
Population of Bokliara 
Population of Khiva 

Moslems in China . 



1,010,000 

2,600,000 

2,500,000 

700,000 

32,000,000 
519 



16,360,000 Ottoman Empire. 



5,800,000 Russian Empire. 
32,000,000 Chinese Empire. 

54,160,000 



520 



GENERAL 



On tlie other hand, as we shall presently see, the 
Moslems m India alone exceed this number by over 
three millions ; while, supplemented by their co-religion- 
ists under our eegis elsewhere, they double it. 

The last census taken in India ^ gives, approxi- 
mately, one-iifth as the proportion of Mohammedans to 
the 287 million souls of whom it was able to obtain par- 
ticulars, and we may assume the ratio to be the same in 
the case of such of the natives of India as were scattered 
at the time over other parts of the Empire, or dwelt in 
Indian border lands where, owing to the prevailing 
wars, detailed returns could not be compiled. In the 
Peninsula and, indeed, in the Indian Ocean as a whole, 
we have comparatively accurate information to go 
upon, and it may be as well to tabulate our results 
there, and wherever there is at least approximate cer- 
tainty, before passing on to places where we shall have 
to fall back largely upon guesswork. 



A 


Moslems. 


India .... 


57,3-1,164 


Frontier tracts .* 


174,000 (one-fifth) 


North and Central America 


20,500 


South America . 


29,000 


Australia and Oceania 


19,500 


Ceylon .... 


220,000 


Maldives .... 


30,000 


Laccadives 


14,440 


Beluchistan 


500,000 


Bahrein .... 


25,000 


Socotra .... 


12,000 


Aden and Perim 


41,910 


Mauritius .... 


34,76,3 


Cape of Good Hoi)e . 
Indians in other colonies . 


15,099 


14,605 (one-fifth) 



58,471,981 



When we reach the Straits we must put into 
requisition the races the inhabitants belong to ; for, 

' The figures for the British Empire are based on the census of 
1891, this paper having been written before the succeeding census was 
taken. 



MOHAMMEDANISM 



521 



fruiji the abstracts available, it Avould appear that 
their religions are not given by the census. We may 
roughly set down every Malay, for instance, as a 
Moslem, and every Chbiaman in the Archipelago as a 
non-Mohammedan. Thus wo get : — 



B 


Moslems 


Straits Settlements . 


243,828 


Federated Malay States 


249,938 


British North Borneo 


1 74,000 


Brunei .... 


17,500 


Sarawak .... 


450,000 


Labuan .... 


5,560 




1,030,826 



While Ave have exact returns of Cyprus and 
Egypt, again, there are several regions in British 
Africa Avhere not onl}^ the religious census, but that 
of the population as a whole, is left to conjecture ; 
and there is at least one (Somaliland), of which it is 
declared that even a surmise is impracticable. Here 
we have hardly anything to guide us : all we know is 
that some of these untold human swarms are in great 
part, and others almost entirely, made up of Moham- 
medans, that Islam is daily strengthening its hold 
upon the hordes of negroes who people the coasts 
and hinterlands, and the like. On such meagre data, 
then, must Ave base the folloAving estimate : — 





C 


Moslems. 


Cyprus 


. 


47,926 


Egypt 


. 


8,978,775 


Egyptian Soudan 


. 


10,050,000 


Nigeria . 


. 


25,000,000 


Lagos 


, 


372,000 


Gold Coast Colony . 


, 


150,000 


Gambia 


, 


23,300 


Sierra Leone 


, 


70,996 


British East Africa . 


^ , 


2,250,000 


British Central Africa 


Protectorate 


281,000^ 


LTganda 


, , 


100,000^ 


Zanzibar and Pemba 




200,000* 


Somaliland 


' 


50,000 * 




47,573,997 



1 Added while in the press. 



5 22 GENERAL 

Putting the three reckonings together, we have 

A . . . . 58,471,981 
B . . . . 1,030,826 
C . . . . 47,573,997 



107,076,804 



This total, which is probably below the reality, 
is the more remarkable when we consider that it 
comes to a little less than half the entire Moham- 
medan population of the world, reckoned at 215 
millions, and, what concerns us more nearly here, 
that the Moslems in the lands scheduled above form 
already over 29 per cent, of the 363 millions in- 
habiting them, and are steadily increasing. 

Religious freedom, coupled with every opportunity 
of keeping abreast of the times, is theirs to a degree 
unparalleled elsewhere ; whilst in wealth, as in numbers, 
they carry away the palm. Even if we confine ourselves 
to India, indeed, Sir Richard Temple tells us that all 
the other Mohammedan nations combined fall far short 
of " the agriculture of [her] Mohammedan peasantry, 
the navigation in the hands of her Mohammedan 
sailors and boatmen, the trade conducted by her 
Mohammedan traders." The Peninsula, moreover, is 
marked out to be the moral and intellectual, as well 
as the commercial, centre of the neighbouring coun- 
tries, just as Egypt is fitted by its geographical posi- 
tion and advanced rule to enliji^hten the regions 
surrounding it ; and nothing would be more natural 
than to see the religious, educational, and political 
ideas of an awakened Mussulman India filtering into 
Yunnan, Kashgar, Afghanistan, Beluchistan or even 
Persia. All these things, amongst others, should enable 
the Moslems in the Empire to exert an enormous 
influence for good, both within and without its borders, 
and to claim that place in the counsels of Islam to 



MOHAMMEDANISM 5 2 3 

which they are entitled. The means are ready to 
their hand : will they stretch it forth ? 

The matter is one which concerns us more nearly 
than we perhaps imagine. As the foremost of 
Moslem States, we have a paramount interest in the 
question whether Mohammedanism is to be an instru- 
ment of progress or of reaction, and we are in a 
manner responsible for it to the other nations of the 
earth. Besides, the followers of Islam hold so large a 
stake in the Empire, and its interests and fortunes 
are so intimately identified with theirs that, to quote 
Sir Richard Temple once more, "it is impossible 
to distinguish Anglo-Mohammedan power from that 
of Britain herself." Englishmen, though generally 
prone to live in a Fool's Paradise, have lately had 
one rude awakening, to say nothing of others, in 
the fact that our competitors have succeeded in 
wresting from us foreign, and even colonial, markets 
which we thought for ever secured to our trade ; and 
there are signs that we are ceasing to believe that 
we can ward off whatever does not suit us by shutting 
our eyes to it. Under the circumstances it is just 
possible that the time has at last come when some- 
thing better than suicidal apathy may be expected of 
us in our dealings with our Mosleni compatriots. 

In the mere negative avoidance of causes of 
offence, it is true, we have made great strides in 
India since the days of the Mutiny, when Syed 
Ahmed Khan, afterwards Sir Syed Ahmed Khan 
Bahadur, K.C.S.I. — one of the ablest of our loyal 
Indian Mussulmans — complained of the Government's 
entire estrangement from the people. Still, we learn 
from the late Dr. Leitner that much more recently 
the " Mohammedan law officers of the Sadr Diwtini and 
Nizamat Addlat " were abolished, with the result that 
" we have not the same touch with the conservative 
elements of Mohammedan society, whilst the decisions 



5 24 GENERAL 

of our courts are often away from the real point, 
owing to ignorance of Arabic, without a knowledge 
of which language it is difficult to have any in- 
fluence with Mohammedans, and impossible to de- 
cide any question connected with their law." The 
" Kazi " was little more than tolerated, and numerous 
Mohammedan endowments were curtailed, misapplied, 
or even confiscated. These, as suggested by the 
learned Orientalist, must be " restored, and their 
educational side be developed in accordance with the 
practical, as well as the religious, requirements of the 
Mohammedan community ; " and we must remedy 
our other administrative errors. Not the least 
among them has been the educational policy which 
kept away the Mussulmans, the former rulers of 
the Peninsula, from the Government colleges, and 
consequently from public oflice. Fortunately they 
have themselves suggested a way out of the difficulty. 
" The Moslems of India," said those of the Punjab to 
Lord Roberts in 1893, "hope that your long experi- 
ence of our service will prove a good testimonial in 
favour of the warlike spirit, military genius and loyalty 
of our nation ; and if the circle of civil employment 
has become too straitened for us, the military line may 
be generously opened to us." The request is highly 
reasonable, and should be complied with to the best 
of our ability ; the more so, to put the question on 
the lowest grounds, as the attention of the Govern- 
ment of India has long been awakened to the great 
political danger of leaving the Moslems there without 
an outlet for their energies. 

The late Sir Syed Ahmed, to whom belongs the 
credit of bringing the anomaly to the notice of the 
authorities, also tried to put an end to it by remov- 
ing its cause. In 1875 the Anglo-Oriental College 
at Aligarh, based on principles resembling those of 
our public schools, was opened for the purpose of 



MOHAMMEDANISM 525 

giving young Mussulmans a sound modern educ^ation — 
that should tend to make them eligible for service 
under Government — accompanied by an intelligent 
study of their religion. The college, which the pro- 
ject of a Moslem University followed as a natural 
corollary, has called forth unstinted praise from 
Viceroy after Viceroy, not to mention other eminent 
visitors, and even a man so hard to please as Sir 
William Muir has borne witness to the wide and 
liberal basis upon which it was established. It was 
in fact Sir Syed Ahmed's object, in the words of 
Lord Elgin, to " provide not merely for instruction, 
but also for the formation of character, for the en- 
couragement of manly pursuits, for the promotion 
of a feeling of self-respect among the students . . . 
for fostering among them an active sense of their 
duly as loyal subjects" — and, it may be added, 
for the inculcation of that true piety which is the 
foundation of firm loyalty. Institutions like this 
should be furthered by every means in our power ; 
moreover, we can do much in a number of other 
ways for the advancement of the Moslems who owe 
allegiance to Edward VII., drawino- them nearer to 
us by sympathy and encouragement no less than 
by actual aid, and, as Sir Syed Ahmed once said of 
the Indian Mussulmans, niaking them and English- 
men brothers. 

But, besides repairing our blunders and favouring 
all that tends towards the development of our Moslem 
fellow-subjects, we must do our utmost to give a 
healthy tone to Mohammedan thought, the best means 
of preventing its perversion by possible enemies. Mr. 
M'Laren Morrison tells us, for instance, that "from all 
the mosques of India her Majesty's faithful Moham- 
medans in their millions sent up their prayers for the 
success [against the Boers] of the men of an alien 
faith, who though aliens in blood were brothers in the 



526 GENERAL 

Empire — the first time that Mohammedans had ever 
prayed for the success of the arms of an iinbeKever ; " 
and this is only one of the many striking proofs of loyalty 
they are constantly giving us : but is it fair to them that 
they should be left without any antidote to the poison 
which, there is every reason to believe, the occult 
emissaries of another Power never the of trying to 
administer to them ? We all know, in like manner, 
how much depends upon the part the Afghan and 
kindred border peoples might play in a war with 
Russia ; it remains for us to realise that our present 
precarious understandings with them, which are liable 
at any moment to give place to secret treaties with 
our rival, may, if we only know how to set to work, 
be firmly cemented by the Mussulmans under the 
Kaisar-i-Hind. Then again, to turn from Asia to 
Africa, we have been warned more than once that the 
Senusiya were leaving no stone unturned to extend 
their influence, which is certainly hostile to us. If 
we take no steps to counteract it, we shall have only 
ourselves to thank for the consequences. 

The way to secure our position in Asia and the 
Dark Continent is to bring our Mohammedan popula- 
tions to realise more and more that the interests of 
their religion and of Britain are identical, so that they 
are serving the cause of the one when promoting that 
of the other ; and to this end both they and we should 
understand what Islam really requires of them. " A 
large part of what Moslems now believe and practise 
is not to be found in the Koran at all," and many of 
them bring utterly apocryphal criteria to bear upon 
religious problems. " The present stagnation of the 
Mussulman comnuuiities," says Syed Ameer Ali,* one 
of their own number, " is principally (hie to the notion 
which has fixed itself in the minds of the generality 
of Moslems that the right to the exercise of private 
judgment ceased with the early legists, that its exercise 



MOHAMMEDANISM 527 

in modern times is sinful, and that a Moslem in order 
to be regarded as an orthodox follower of Mohammed 
should belong to one or other of the schools established 
by the schoolmen of Islam and abandon his judgment 
absolutely to the interpretations of men who lived in 
the ninth century and could have no conception of 
the necessities of the nineteenth." Such was not the 
example given them by Mohammed. " When Muaz 
was appointed Governor of Yemen, he was asked by 
the Prophet by what rule he would be guided in the 
administration of the province. ' By the law of the 
Koran,' said Muaz. ' But if you find no direction 
therein ? ' ' Then I will act according to the example 
of the prophet.' 'But if that fails?' 'Then I will 
exercise my own judgment.' The Prophet approved 
highly of the answer of his disciple, and commended 
it to the other delegates." It were well if our Mussul- 
mans, many of whom are superstitiously careful to 
imitate Mohammed in the minutest particulars, were 
to take this lesson to heart ; for it is essential that 
they should free themselves from their present bondage 
to the opinions of mediaeval doctors and of contem- 
porary religious guides, often quite as ignorant as 
themselves, if they are to turn their opportunities to 
proper account. A return to the well of Islam un- 
defiled is their great want, and our co-operation would 
go a long way towards bringing this about. The 
Briton, if he but choose to lay aside his prejudices, is 
perhaps more capable than any one else of thoroughly 
appreciating the genius of Islam, which is pre-eminently 
the religion of practical common-sense ; and ho can 
do his Moslem brethren yeoman service by helping 
them to recognise its true spirit and apply it to the 
questions of the hour. But, in order to do so, the 
Man of the West must himself first learn to judge 
the Eastern creed rightly. 

The task is not an easy one. Most of us have 



528 GENERAL 

imbibed prejudice against Islam with our mothers' 
milk, and the information usually within our grasp 
— for it is not given to all to get it at first hand 
from the original Arabic documents — is calculated 
to increase, not lessen, our bias. Not only pro- 
fessional detractors, whose mercenary motives are 
easy enough to understand, but persons in high 
official positions whence their allegations derive 
weight, have lent themselves to the grossest mis- 
statements. These have often been brought home 
to them, but, instead of causing them to be held 
up to execration as they deserve, appear to be 
taken quite as a matter of course ; indeed, one finds 
their authors described as " fair " and " impartial " 
by those who have, almost approvingly, drawn atten- 
tion to their calumnies. Other writers, again, whose 
anti- Mohammedan prepossessions are apparent on 
their every page, are, merely because somewhat less 
bigoted, taxed with being too favourable to Islam. 
Let us leave contemporaries out of the question, 
and confine ourselves to an example or tAvo of the 
methods of their predecessors. On one occasion the 
infamous Maracci finds in the twelfth chapter of 
the Koran a term one of whose score of meanings 
— the richness of the Arabic language often gives a 
word an even greater number — is capable of being 
rendered obscenely, does so forthwith, fathers his 
version upon the passage in defiance of the context 
and of traditional interpretation, and then ex- 
claims, with feigned prudery : Oh immodest prophet ! 
Another day Grotius, as he himself has unblushingly 
admitted, invents the fable of the pigeon taught to 
personate the Holy Ghost by means of peas placed 
in Mohammed's ear — a tale faithfully perpetuated, 
with erudite disquisitions on the heinousness of the 
imposture, by one scribe after another. Not a word 
of protest is issued against these slanderers ; on the 



MOHAMMEDANISM 5 29 

contrary, another author, simply because he does 
not vio with them in fabrication, is stigmatised as 
" the ahnost Mahometan Mr. Sale." No wonder it 
is well nigh impossible to get at the truth in an 
atmosphere like this ! 

Yet, as the Nawab Imad Nawaz Jang said some 
years ago in a letter to Dr. Leitner, " those Europeans 
who, being profound Arabic scholars, and bringing to 
bear on the subject a mind impartial and free from 
prejudice, have read the Koran with the aid of com- 
mentaries, and have had sufficient material before 
them to distinguish those points on which Fatwas 
exist from those on which there are none, have always 
written respectfully of Islam ; " and he suggested a 
conference of " such unprejudiced European scholars " 
and of well-informed Mohanunedans to inquire into 
" the real nature of Islam." Such conferences, besides 
making plain the apocryphal character of the excres- 
cences foisted upon Mohammedanism by superstitious 
adherents and insincere adversaries, ought to go a long 
way towards ridding us of our unsympathetic attitude 
towards its tenets, which too often makes it impossible 
for a Moslem to discuss them with us. 

We are told that a celebrated missionary, amongst 
others, without having read a word of the Koran, even 
in English, constantly argued with Mussulmans about 
it, calling it an " imposture," the " work of the devil," &c. 
We nmst really dispense with this spirit of " Christian 
charity " if we are to do any good. We cannot — more's 
the pity — see some of our controversialists Avitli the eye 
of a Moslem, but we may be able to form a faint idea, 
sufficient at any rate to deter us from taking them as 
our models, of the disgust with which they cannot fail 
to fill him. It is impossible for him, who believes Jesus 
to be the Messiah and the Word of Truth, to recrimi- 
nate—and their attacks are the more cowardly because 
they know this — but fancy, for argument's sake, how 
V 2 L 



5 30 GENERAL 

he would ingratiate himself with Christians were he to 
come among them and speak of Christ and Christianity 
in the tone they adopt towards his faith and its founder, 
striving to imitate their despicable insinuations, then- 
assignment of the basest motives in everything, and 
their unremitting assumption of superiority. Can we 
really believe that, because he is tongue-tied by his 
profound reverence for the Son of Mary and leaves a 
monopoly of vituperation to his adversaries, he is 
brought nearer by charges which must make his blood 
boil as they do that of every person who knows any- 
thing of Mohammedanism ? What can we expect him 
to think of the two weights and two measures that 
are constantly called into requisition for the purpose 
of establishing contrasts between it and Christianity, 
especially the ridiculous comparisons drawn between 
a travesty of the Arabian prophet and an Occidental 
and contemporary Christ, with a gospel explained away 
till it says neither more nor less than happens to fit in 
with the caprices of the moment ? 

If, on the other hand, we can bring ourselves to 
part with some of our cherished prejudices, we may be 
sure that the Moslem's heart will go out to us ; for, as 
all familiar with him are aware, he is full of esteem, 
which quickly ripens into affection, for the Englishman 
Avho knows something of that Islam he loves so well 
and can speak of it without reviling what he holds 
most sacred. Men like this would find no difficulty in 
getting the Mohammedan to join them in the dis- 
passionate examination of its teachings and the con- 
sideration of their practical bearings : the more so as 
he would be acting according to the instructions of 
the Koran, whose words, "dispute not with the people of 
the Scriptures " — so often quoted, with the customary 
bad faith, as a proof of its intolerance — are followed by 
the immediate context, " unless in the kindliest manner; 
except with the oppressors among theni." How well 



MOHAMMEDANISM 531 



C -»C C J "-- - C 0> iS> 



this last proviso /*v^ V^ c:>=*"^^ ■^^ characterises certain 

overbcariQ^' cliainpions of Christianity, by the way, 
especially as the Arabic word includes the idea, not 
of hard measure in the vindication of right, but 
of positive injustice. The extent to wdiich they carry 
the latter may be gauged by its being too much on 
one occasion even for the long-suffering Mr. Bosworth 
Smith, himself emphatically a Christian, and drawing 
from him the indignant remark, " As if such a writer 
would feel scrupidous in making any statement upon 
any subject ! " Argument would be throAvn away on 
people of this kind ; but Moslems are otherwise quite 
ready to discuss their creed. 

True Islam seeks light, not darkness ; that it is 
the natural ally of knowledge and friend of progress 
has been abundantly proved by the facts thus epito- 
mised by the authority just named : " During the 
darkest period of European history the Arabs for five 
hundred years held up the torch of learning to 
humanity. It was the Arabs who then ' called the 
Muses from their ancient seats ; ' who collected and 
translated the writings of the Greek masters ; who 
understood the geometry of Apollonius, and Avielded 
the weapons ground in the logical armoury of Aristotle. 
It was the Arabs who developed the sciences of agri- 
culture and astronomy, and created those of algebra 
and chemistry ; Avho adorned their cities with colleges 
and libraries, as well as with mosques and palaces ; 
who supplied Europe with a school of philosophy 
from Cordova and with a school of physicians from 
Salerno." ^ Their faith, rightly understood, was the 

1 The sayings of Mohammed which show his own attitude towards 
science cannot be too strongly commended to the notice of his fol- 
lowers. Here are a few of them : "Acquire knowledge, for he who 
acquires it for God's sake performs an act of piety ; he who speaks of 
it praises the Lord ; he who searches for it worships God ; he who 
imparts it offers sacrifice. . . . Knowledge is our friend in the desert, 



532 - GENERAL 

mainspring of their actions ; why should it not inspire 
those upon whom their mantle has fallen, especially 
the Moslems of the British Empire, endowed with so 
many advantages, to walk in their footsteps and spread 
abroad the civilisation which springs from the genuine 
precepts of Mohammedanism ? But it is time to turn 
our attention from them to the system itself. 

Although we are more nearly concerned here with 
those aspects of Islam which have a direct relation 
to Imperial questions, a glance at some of the others 
may not be amiss. And first the state of things 
to which it put an end must be clearly understood, 
for the circumstances under which the doctrines of 
the Koran were pronuilgated are one of the most 
important keys to its interpretation. 

A recent maligner of Mohammed has been at 

o 
great pains to insinuate that the Arabs were mono- 

theists at the advent of the prophet ; Avhereas all who 

have written upon the subject agree in telling us that 

Sabieanism and Magianism had both degenerated into 

idolatry, while the " grossest Fetichism," to borrow the 

phrase of Mr. Bosworth Smith, was " probably more 

popular and more prominent than either." The three 

hundred and sixty odd idols in the Kaaba, moreover, 

ought alone to show how far from monotheistic the 

Arabs were. Neither is it true that the " Impostor " 

robbed Arabia of its Christianity. " After five centuries 

of Christian evangelisation," says Sir William Muir, 

" we can point to but a sprinkling here and there of 

Christians." It may be pertinent to ask, in addition, 

our companion when friendless, our ornament among friends, our 
armour against our enemies." "The ink of the scholar is more holy 
than the blood of the martyr." "To listen to the words of the learned, 
and to instil into the heart the lessons of science, is better than 
religious exercises." " Him who favours learning and the learned, 
God will favour in the next world." "He who honours the learned 
honours me," 



MOHAMMEDANISM 5 3 3 

whether those who are so ready to hurl this imputation 
at Mohammed are equally prepared to acknowledge as 
true Christians the Collyridian and other sects ho had 
to deal with. " It has been the fashion," says Deutsch, 
" to ascribe whatever is good in Mohammedanism to 
Christianity. We fear this theory is not compatible 
with the results of honest investigation. For of Arabian 
Christianity at the time of Mohammed, the less said, 
perhaps, the better." As for the moral condition of 
the Arabs at that time, it cannot perhaps be better 
described than by extracts from Mr. Bosworth Smith. 
" To forgive an injury was with the Arabs the sign of 
a craven spirit : revenge was a religious duty ; blood 
feuds were handed down from father to son . . . and 
the claim was sometimes not considered to be satisfied 
till the whole tribe had been swept away. . . . Drunken- 
ness was . . . very common, and very fatal in its 
effects. The passion for gambling was so reckless that 
a man would often stake all his possessions, and . . . 
his freedom. . . . But the most barbarous practice 
. . . was the burying alive of the female children as 
soon as they were born ; or, worse still, as sometimes 
happened, after they had attained the age of six years. 
The father was generally himself the murderer. . . . 
The majority [of women] were in the most degraded 
position ... a woman had no rights ; she could not 
inherit property ; her person formed part of the in- 
heritance which came to the heir of her husband, and 
he was entitled to marry her against her will. Hence 
sprung the impious marriages of sons with their step- 
mothers and others of an even worse character which 
Mohammed so peremptorily forbade. Polygamy was 
universal and quite unrestricted ; equally so was divorce. 
... A father not unfrequentl}' sacrificed his own child 
to appease an angry god. . . ." These things, the same 
writer says further on, were abolished by Mohammed, 
as was also wanton cruelty to slaves; and it may be 



534 GENERAL 

observed that Islam succeeded in carrying out these great 
reforms where both Judaism and Christianity had for 
centuries been impotent. The times were not ripe 
for the absolute prohibition of polygamy and slavery, 
but it encompassed them with restrictions, of which 
more anon. Meanwhile it is interesting and encourag- 
ing to find that Mohammedanism, even as it is 
popularly understood in our day, has not lost its 
original power over barbarous nations. Canon Taylor 
informs us in the Tmus of October 7, 1887, that " an 
African tribe once converted to Islam never reverts 
to paganism, and never embraces Christianity. Islam 
has done more for civilisation than Christianity. Take, 
for example, the statements of English officials or 
of travellers as to the practical result of Islam. When 
Mohammedanism is embraced by a negro tribe, 
paganism, devil-worship, cannibalism, infanticide, witch- 
craft at once disappear. Polygamy and slavery are 
regulated, and their evils arc restrained." Surel}'^ we 
must rejoice at having within call so potent an instru- 
ment for good, and be disposed to utilise it to the 
advantage of those Avhom their more enlicjhtened 
Moslem brothers can begin by turning from beasts 
into men, and, with our help and guidance, can raise 
yet higher in the scale of progress. 

As the calumny has again lately come to the front 
that Mohammedanism does not include a true con- 
ception of the Godhead, it may be as well to devote a 
few words to it. The threadbare argument is given 
prominence that Moslems do not term the Deity 
" Father " : a puerile quibble one Avould not have ex- 
pected from its latest exponent, who poses as a Semitic 
and Oriental scholar, and who cannot help knowing full 
well that the word, although perfectly harmless in the 
mouth of a European, is associated in the East with 
tlie most grossly anthropomorphous ideas. Further, is 
it quite so certain that the vindictive Moloch too often 



MOHAMMEDANISM 5 3 5 

portrayed to Christians — styled " Father " in uncon- 
scious irony — shows parental att'ection equally with 
Him of the Beautiful Names ? " God is more loving 
to His servants than the mother to her young," said 
Mohammed ; and the Koran repeatedly recurs to the 
many proofs of His tenderness for us. The reciprocal 
love of the believer is expressed, inter alia, in the 
following prayer, handed down by tradition : " O Lord, 
grant mo the love of Thee ; grant that I may love those 
that love Thee ; grant that I may do the deeds that 
win Thy Love ; make Thy Love to be dearer to me tlian 
myself." Neither is this Moslem spiritual communion 
barren. Some of its fruits have wrung even from Sir 
William Muir, whom Syed Ameer Ali well describes 
as " an avowed enemy of Islam," such tributes as this : 
" Never, since the days when primitive Christianity 
startled the world from its sleep, and waged a mortal 
conflict with heathenism, had men seen the like 
arousing of spiritual life, — the like faith that suffered 
sacrifice, and took joyfully the spoiling of goods for 
conscience' sake." And again : " Mahomet, thus holding 
his people at bay, waiting, in the still expectation of 
victory, to outward appearance defenceless, and with 
his little band, as it were, in the lion's mouth, yet 
trusting in the Almighty Power whose messenger he 
believed himself to be, resolute and unmoved, presents 
a spectacle of sublimity paralleled only in the sacred 
records by such scenes as that of the prophet of 
Israel, when he complained to his master, ' I, even 1 
only, am left.' " 

In this connection it should be mentioned that 
the rigid fatalism of certain Western S3^stems of 
theology does not form part of Islam, as has been 
falsely asserted with the utmost persistency. The 
authoritative commentary of Jalalain sheds a new 
light on a passage of the Koran which is perpetually 
being put forward in the erroneous form : '' Every 



536 GENERAL 

man's fate have we bound about his neck," ^^^^ ^^—^^ J^j 
Aslc ^ 6^(L, The words really are : " And every man 

have we hung his bird (gl. his works which he 
carries with him) about his neck, and on the day of 
resurrection we will bring it face to face with him as a 
written document. Read thy writing : thyself art 
to-day a sufficient witness against thee." The context 
shows the meaning to be that a man cannot rid himself 
of the sins he has committed, and that they follow 
him into the next world — unless, of course, he repent, 
as the Koran says elsewhere, over and over again. As 
for the responsibility for human acts, the Koran lays 
it down that " Whatever good betideth thee is from 
God, and whatever betideth thee of evil is from 
thyself : " which comes to the same thing as the 
Christian phrase : " Without God ye can do nothing." 

This digression may serve to show that the propa- 
tfation of true Islam is not that of a servile formalism : 
we must now return to the investigation of its doctrines 
on subjects more nearly connected with our Imperial 
interests. Let us first pause, however, to insist once 
more upon the necessity of bearing in mind that the 
Koran was not written in Europe in the twentieth, 
or even in the nineteenth, century, and that it had to 
be suited to its surroundings if it was to be anything 
more than Utoj^ian. It is Oriental, and it can best be 
understood by enlightened Orientals like Sir Syed 
Ahmed Khan, to whom we should accordingly go for 
instruction. 

In a country where polygamy had no limits, and 
where incest and every form of immorality, amongst 
(jthcr evils, were rampant, it was not advisable expressly 
to introduce strict monogamy at once. Implicitly, 
however, Islam made polygamy almost impossible to a 
conscientious Moslem by the following decree : " Marry 
. . . two, three, or four; but if yc fear lest ye may 



MOHAMMEDANISM 5 3 7 

not deal equitably, then one." Thus no one is to take 
more than one wife but ho who feels that he can 
behave with equal justice and love to more, and, a 
little further on, the Koran itself says that, even with 
the best will, he will not have it in his power to do so. 
The leave given is therefore tantamount to a prohi- 
bition. Divorce, which was practised without any 
restraint whatever till Mohammed's time, has been 
retained, but has been so hedged about with provisos 
as to be no easy matter ; and his opinion of it may be 
gathered from his saying that, as nothing pleases God 
more than the freeing of slaves, so nothing displeases 
Him more than divorce. Woman, until then a chattel, 
was given the right of possessing separate property, 
and was raised to a perfect equality with man in the 
exercise of all legal powers. These facts Mohammedans 
will not be slow to recognise if they are set before 
them in the right way, and honour is given where 
honour is due : the more so as divorce and plurality of 
wives are the exception among them, and not, as might 
be supposed, the rule. Especial stress should be laid 
upon the point that the spirit of their law is even 
more opposed to these practices than the letter, beyond 
which many of them have never learnt to go of them- 
selves^ — in this manner their civilising mission may 
be extended and intensified. 

Slavery, with which fanatics have too often saddled 
Islam, bears a similar relation to it. " Mohammed," 
says Mr. Bosworth Smith, " did not abolish slavery 
altogether, for in that condition of society it would 
have been neither possible nor desirable to do so ; but 
he encouraged the emancipation of slaves : he laid 
down the principle that the captive who embraced 
Islam should be ijjso facto free, and, what is more 
important, he took care that no stigma should attach 
to the emancipated slave." The late Dr. Leitner — 
whose lecture on Mohammedanism, with its appendices. 



538 GENERAL 

should be read from the first word to the last — points 
out that capture in battle in a religious war can alone 
make a man a slave, and that even in this case he 
is eventually, in the ordinary course of things, to be 
freed. The Tafsir Jalalain throws additional liefht 
on one of the texts cited by the doctor. " And when 
ye shall be opposed {(jl. in battle) to the unbelievers 
let there be a striking of the neck {gl, do not cease till 
the outcome is certain, as when a man puts his foot 
on his adversary's neck) until you have overcome 
them ; and keep the captives, either to restore them to 
liberty or to exchange them for captive believers, until 
the war has thrown down its load {gl. of arms, inas- 
much as they either make peace or a truce ; for this is 
the end of war and of the retention of captives.)" It 
cannot be too strongly impressed upon our Moham- 
medan populations that in no other case has slavery 
any warrant in their religion, and that the sale of 
human beings has been severely condemned by " the 
great Arabian." This knowledge will fill them with 
antagonism to the slave trade in all its forms. At 
present many Moslems are under the false impression 
that nothing is required by their creed save that none 
of their co-religionists should be enslaved ; and, to do 
them j ustice, they are very thorough so far as they go 
Mr. Joseph Thomson, in a letter to the Times dated 
Nov. 14, 1887, writes: "I unhesitatingly affirm, and 
I speak from a wider experience of Eastern Central 
Africa than any of your correspondents possess, that 
if the slave trade thrives it is because Islam has not 
been introduced to these remons, and for the strontjfest 
of all reasons, that the^ spread of Mohammedanism 
would have meant the concomitant suppression of the 
slave trade." 

The extract given above frou) the Koran brings us 
to the subject of religious war. In this passage, as 
throughout the volume, it is a war of self-defence that 



MOHAMMEDANISM 5 39 

is commanded. " And fight for tho religion of God 
against those thai tight against you ; but attack them 
not first : God hateth the aggressor. ... If they 
attack you, slay them . . . but if they desist, let there 
be no hostility except against the oppressor," " They 
will not cease fighting against you until they make 
you give up your religion if they can." Words like 
these speak plainly enough for themselves, but they 
are made still clearer by the circumstances ; for they 
applied, as every one knows, to war which the first 
Moslejiis were forced into in order to safeguard their 
lives and liberty, in jeopardy on account of their pro- 
fession of faith. Nothing but complete discomfiture 
could induce their adversaries to keep the peace. The 
lengths to which they went are shown in the following 
complaint, commented upon by Jalalain : " How can 
there be a covenant with the polytheists ... if, Avhen 
they gain the ascendant over you, they observe (to- 
wards you) neither oath nor treaty {gl. but do you all 
the harm in their power)." Yet even then the Moslems 
were only to fight as they were fought against, and to 
sheathe the sword as soon as a token of non-resistance 
was given them. Thus religious war, according to the 
Koran, is one undertaken to defend liberty of con- 
science, and has no motive unless this is attacked. 
There are so many erroneous ideas on the subject 
floating about that it would be w^cll if our Moham- 
medans loiew exactly what to think of it. Written 
opinions have been obtained from the teachers of the 
four schools of divinity at Mecca, says Mr. Theodore 
Morison {Spectator, Dec. 29, 1900), to the eftcct that 
India is a Bar vt Idam, to whose rulers Moslems " are 
l)ound in conscience to be loyal." These Fattvas should 
be published far and wide, not only on account of the 
effect they must produce on our own subjects, but also 
as a means towards an alliance of Mohanimedan States 
for defensive purposes, " under the oegis of Great 



540 GENERAL 

Britain, instead of that of Russia," suggested by Dr. 
Leitner as far back as 1886. But of course, with our 
usual supineness, we do nothing. 

One point that must not be forgotten is that, while 
certain other people talk a great deal about universal 
brotherhood, Moslems practise it. Caste distinctions, 
which Christianity fails to overcome, do not exist for 
them ; and, if an Indian Mussulman has any doubts on 
that score, they are soon set at rest. An example will 
best explain this. A learned man from Mecca, Avho 
was holding a reception, saw a washerman humbly 
standing near the threshold. On its being explained 
that the dhoby belonged to a low caste, the Moulvie 
made him sit at his right hand and eat with him, 
remarking that all Moslems were brothers, and were 
equal. Such action does far more than theories, and 
here Mohammedans have before them a field of 
civilisation whose tillage is practically their monopoly. 

At least twice as )nuch time as can here be devoted 
to the matter would be needed for even a cursory view 
of all the ways in which Moslems, by following their 
religion as they originally received it, might benefit 
themselves and every one with whom they come in 
contact. A generation ago it would have been worse 
than useless to expect British concurrence towards 
this end, but in our day a spirit of toleration, betokened 
by facts such as the Gordon College at Khartoum and 
the Mosque built in connection with the Oriental 
Institute at Woking, is fortunately gaining ground 
amongst us, and it may presumably not be too 
much to hope that unreasoning hatred of Islam will 
make way for an intelligent interest in it. The con- 
ference pleaded for by the Nawab Imad Nawaz Jang, 
for instance, ought not to be out of reach, and as Dr. 
Leitner remarked of it when it was first proposed, 
would " remove many misrepresentations that now 
exist " and " pave the way for a better understanding 



MOHAMMEDANISM 541 

between Christians and Mohammedans " ; thus con- 
tributing to a loss ill J possible attitude on our part 
towards the latter, the preliminary to our acquisition 
of an influence disposing them, in their turn, to lend 
a willing ear to our suggestions for their welfare. 
Alarm is already beginning to be felt in certain 
quarters at the activity prevalent in Mohammedan 
countries; would it not be better for us to guide it 
towards a just appreciation of the spirit of Islam than 
to force it, for want of another outlet, in the direction 
of unfriendly fanaticism of the Senusi type ? 

Educated Mohammedans must be enlisted in this 
cause ; and here a word about those at Liverpool may 
not be out of place. Much is to be had for the asking 
by a community like this, which, on the one hand, is 
almost wholly composed of Englishmen, and, on the 
other, may be supposed to be in touch with the 
millions of Moslems throughout the empire ; a perhaps 
unique position, which admits them to intimacy with 
both Western and Eastern thought, allowing them to 
apply the canons of the one to the other and gauge 
their present and their former creed by the same 
standards. They should be able, while giving their 
countrymen the benefit, from an English point of view, 
of their inner experience of Islam, to put English 
ideas authoritatively before the family councils of their 
co-religionists, and bear their part in showing how well 
the Koran and the primitive traditions can bo applied 
to the requirements of our time, and how much they 
are in keeping with its spirit. Let the Moslems within 
our dominions once grasp this, and their proper place 
in the empne and in the world is assured. 

Note. — Since this was written an interesting account of the pro- 
gress of the Indian Mussulmans during the nineteenth century, by 
Mr. S. Khuda Buksh, B.C.L., has appeared in the April number of 
the Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review. 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 

ESPECIALLY IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE 

By GEORGE SMITH, CLE., LL.D. 

The British Empire is based on religion and on the 
toleration which the Christian religion alone teaches 
and secures. It is religion which has given the com- 
paratively small United Kingdom its imperial power 
and responsibilities. The English-speaking race, or 
races, including those of the United States of America, 
are conscious of a mission or destiny, by recognising 
which the Empire has grown to its present position in 
the history of humanity. The spawning power and 
the adventurous instinct of Englishmen, Scotsmen, and 
Irishmen, which have carried them so far and have 
marked their administrative and commercial career, 
are not directed by blind force. The national character 
has been built up, the national life is regulated by 
ideas. And of all ideas that which has most dynamic 
force is Religion. When that religion claims to be at 
once supernatural and imiversal, missionary and yet 
tolerant of all others whom only it would persuade 
and benefit, Foreign Missions come to be an essential 
part of the foreign politics and history of the Empire. 

Hence the expansion of the British Empire lias 
been accompanied by the progress of Foreign Missions. 
The work really began at llic Reformation of the 
Church four centuries ago. What the Roman Church 
lost in Europe it sought to make up by missions to 
the lands discovered by Spain and Portugal. The 

S42 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 543 

Jesuits were a missionary order with a military organi- 
sation. The Franciscans and Dominicans tbllowcd them 
to the dark races, often as their rivals. The Reformed 
Churches meanwhile prepared the missionary's message 
in the Greek text, the Latin version, and the vernacular 
translations of the Scriptures. In 1 64 1 Oliver Crom- 
well founded the first Missionary Society, to the Indians 
of America, under John Eliot. 

Two historical events checked that enterprise, but 
opened the door far wider. The American War of 
Independence at once set Great Britain free for the ex- 
pansion of its empire in Asia and Africa, and it called 
into existence the second great missionary power. The 
French Revolution broke up the feudalism of Europe, 
and England became master of what are now some of 
its greatest dependencies and dominions. 

Modern Christian Missions to the dark races, who 
form the majority of mankind, took their origin in the 
throes of the wars of the Revolution and Independence. 
After ten years of preparation, William Carey founded 
the first general Missionary Society in 1792. From 
that time Reformed Missions have grown with the 
growth of the Empire. The Baptist Society began in 
Northern India. In 1795 it Avas followed by the 
London Missionary Society, Avhich began in Hawaii and 
the islands of the Pacific Ocean. In 1796 the Scottish 
Missionary Society selected first Western and then 
Southern Africa as the scene of its operations. In 
1799 the great Church Missionary Societ}' was founded, 
and soon sent evangelists out to West Africa, Madras, 
and Calcutta. In i 804 the British and Foreign Bible 
Society became the catholic publishing house of the 
missionaries' translations of the Bible. Gradually the 
two older agencies of the Church of England, the 
Wesleyans, and the Church of Scotland became more 
missionary or foreign in their work — the Society for 
Promoting Christian Knowledge, the Society for the 



544 GENERAL 

Propagation of the Gospel, the Scottish Society of 
the same name, and the Wesleyan Society. The 
same missionary philanthropists who created what was 
called "the era of benevolence " from 1792 to 1813, 
when the East India Company received a more tolerant 
charter than before, carried through Parliament the 
abolition of the slave trade, which had stained the 
nascent empire and made its healthy growth impossible. 
As the people of the United States of America increased, 
they, too, founded corresponding missionary organisations, 
although the burden of slavery with which at the first 
Portugal and Spain had saddled them was not removed 
till Lincoln's Civil War long after. 

The constitutional law of toleration in the Empire 
was not practically established until Queen Victoria 
assumed the direct government of India on the Mutiny 
and the removal of the East India Company. Then, 
in the Royal Proclamation of ist November 1858, the 
Queen with her own hand wrote this addition to the 
Secretary of State's draft : " Firmly relying ourselves on 
the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with grati- 
tude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right 
and the desire to impose our convictions on any of 
our subjects." Eighteen years after, when H.R.H. the 
Prince of Wales visited South India, and was wel- 
comed by ten thousand native Christians at Tinne- 
velly, he said : " It is a great satisfaction to me to 
find my countrymen engaged in offering to our Indian 
fellow-subjects those truths which form the foimdation 
of our own social and political system, and which we 
ourselves esteem as our most valued possession. The 
freedom in all matters of opinion which our Govern- 
ment secures to all is an assurance to me that large 
numbers of our Indian fellow-subjects accept your 
teaching from conviction." 

When William Carey made his missionary survey 
in 1786, publishing the results in his famous " Enquiry " 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 545 

in 1792/ lie estimated the population of the world at 
"about 731,000,000." Of these only 174,000,000 
were Christians. Of the other 557,000,000, the num- 
ber of pagans was 420,000,000; of Mohammedans 
130,000,000, and of Jews 7,000,000. In the 114 
years since that survey, it is known that the number 
of' mankind has more than doubled. The estimate of 
Mr. E. Ravenstein, F.R.G.S., made in September 1890, 
and brought doAvn to the close of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, is at least 1,550,000,000. Of these 5 10,000,000 
are Christians, in the three classes of 200,000,000 of the 
Reformed Church, 200,000,000 of the Roman Church, 
and I 1 0,000,000 of the Greek and Eastern Churches. 
Of the 1,040,000,000 of non-Christians, 9,000,000 are 
Jews, 200,000,000 are Mohammedans, and 83 1,000,000 
are pagans. 

There is thus an apparent increase of Christians, 
in the 1 14 years, of 336,000,000. Whereas there were 
174 Christians to every 557 of the human race, there 
are now 510 Christians to every 1550. Roughly, 
every thu'd human being is now a Christian in name. 
The increase is due (i) to the superior energy of 
the principal Christian races; (2) to the secondary 
civilising effects of Christianity ; ( 3 ) to the direct 
influence of Christian missions, in obedience to the 
great commission of the Founder of the Faith and 
His universal claim and supernatural power and 
presence. The Teutonic peoples, and especially the 
English-speaking, and mure particularly the British, 
have led the way during the century, so far as Re- 
formed or Evangelical Missions are concerned, these 
being always tolerant. The Latin peoples, especially 
those of France, have been identitied with Roman 
Missions. The Church of the Greek rite, chiefly in 
Russia, has had a missionary influence in Siberia, 
while rigidly intolerant to all other organisations of the 

1 Reprinted by Hodder & Stoughtou in 1891. 
V 2 M 



546 



GENERAL 



kind, except tlie Bible Society. We sliall notice these 
three mission forces and their results in succession. 
There are few data for the third. 



I. Reformed Missions 

The Christian missionary expansion, which makes 
the century remarkable, is divided into two well-defined 
periods of sowing and growth. The first covers the 
period up to 1859. The second, of the forty years to 
the present day, started under the double impulse of 
the Indian Mutiny and the first return of David 
Livingstone from tropical Africa. In 1799 William 
Carey, after seven years' labour, had not a convert, 
nor had the Scottish and the London Missionary 
Societies. The Lutherans had a few in South India, 
and Kiernander had several hundreds in Calcutta. 
The Wesleyan Methodists had gained some negroes, 
and the Moravians had won several converts from the 
depressed races. 

First Period — Sowing, 1 7 9 9- 1 8 5 9. 



Income .... 
Missionaries (men) 
Missionaries (unmar- ) 

ried women) . j 

Native ministers . 
Other native helpers 
Native communicants . 
Native disciples or cate- ( 

chum ens . . / 
Missionary organisations 



1799. 


1820. 


1830. 


1845. 


1859. 


;^I0,000 

50 


;^I2I,7S6 
421 


^226,440 
734 


;^632,ooo 
1. 319 


^^91,8000 
2,032 




I 


31 


72 


76 


"80 

7,000 


7 
166 

21,787 


10 

850 

51.322 


158 

3.152 

159,000 


169 

5.785 
227,000 


5,000 


15.728 


102,275 


185,000 


252,000 


6 


20 


25 


65 


98 



The first of the Missionary Congresses, that of 
l>ungal, was hold at Calcutta in September 1855. In 
all British India there were then only 386 missionaries, 
in feudatory India there was not one. The Punjab had 
5 (mly against 182 in Madras, 103 in Bengal, and 60 
in the North-Western Provinces. There were only 34 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 



547 



in Bombcay and 2 in the Central Provinces. " Can yon 
wonder," wrote the Conference in an appeal to Europe 
and America, " then, that we ask for larger agencies, 
that for this holy service we appeal to you for more 
men and more means ; and that we ask the Church to 
aid us by more repeated and more fervent prayers ? " 

In less than two years our Eastern Empire was at 
stake till Delhi fell in September 1857. Our native 
country was roused by massacres and the penalties of the 
worst form of Avar, till the national conscience quickened 
the Churches and Societies into redoubled life. 

All this affected Asia chietiy, but at the same time 
Africa was at last brought into the conflict of Christen- 
dom with the darkness. David Livingstone returned 
from his first journey across that continent, to tell all — 
the Queen, the Universities, the Christian Churches— of 
multitudinous tribes, and peoples, and tongues, enslaved 
at once by the powers of darkness, and the demand 
for the harems of Islam. A " new era of universal 
benevolence " Avas again begun for the dark races. 
America stood shoulder to shoulder with Great Britain, 
Germany, and Huguenot France in the missionary march. 
The seed of sixty years was bearing its fruit, while new 
fields were sow^n by new agencies, with this result up 
to the close of the nineteenth century : — 

Second Period — Growth, 1 8 5 9— 1 900. 





1859. 


1889. 


1895. 


1898. 


Income 




^^918,000 


^2, 130,000 


;^2,86s,662 


^^2,952,724 


Missionaries (men) 




2,032 


4.13s 


6,369 


6.746 


Missionaries (unmarried 


\ 










women) . 


76 


1,889 


3.390 


3.421 


Native ministers 




169 


3.327 


4,018 


3.958 


Other native helpers . 




S.785 


41.754 


61,124 


64,198 


Native coinmunicanrs 




227,000 


850,000 


1,057,000 


1,321,561 


Native disciples or cate- 
chumens 


\ 


252,000 


650,000 


864, iSS 


1.148,905 


Missionary organisations 




98 


262 


36s 


36s 


Schools 


, 








19.476 


Scholars . 


• 


... 




... 


988,660 



548 GENERAL 

These figures exclude all Bible and Christian 
literature Avork, Missions to the JeAvs, to decadent 
Christian Churches, and the Colonies, and the wives 
of missionaries, the majority of whom double the effi- 
ciency of the men. If these be added, the expenditure 
for 1898 will be £$,248,^24, and the total number of 
foreign missionaries will rise to 12,000 in 1898, of 
whom 5500 were women. Dr. James S. Dennis, the 
author of a well-known work in three volumes on 
" Christian Missions and Social Progress," submitted 
to the Ecumenical Congress in New York in 1 900 a 
remarkable array of statistics of Foreign Missions of 
all classes. His calculation is that there are now 
15,460 foreign missionaries, 1,317,684 native com- 
municants, 20,375 mission schools, 1,046,168 pupils, 
537 missionary organisations, ;i^4,2 3i,ooo mission- 
ary income, 2,000,000 copies of Scriptures annually 
circulated. 

Stated broadly, the Churches of the Reformation 
at the close of the nineteenth century spend annually 
;^4,ooo,ooo sterling in sending Missions, Bibles, 
and Christian literature to non-Christians, as against 
;^ 1 0,000 at its beginning. They send out above 
7000 men, two-thirds of Avhom are married, and 
4000 unmarried women, against 50 only a century 
ago. 

Then there was not one ordained native convert, 
now there are upwards of 4000. Then there were 
hardly a hundred native Christian workers, now there 
are 70,000. These figures take no cognisance of 
four of the most powerful forces at work in the 
civiUsation of the non-Christian races. These are, 
educational, medical, and industrial missions, and the 
cheap circulation of the Bible and of pure literature, 
vernacular as well as Englisli. 

Of tlie smii of ;^3,ooo,ooo sterling spent in 1897 
by the Reformed Churches of Christendom on missions 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 549 

to the dark races, the British Empire siipphcd one 
hah", the United States of America nearly a third, 
and Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the 
Scandinavian countries gave the rest. 



II. Roman Missions 

The quest by sea for the wealth of India was the 
bcsfinninijf of the missions of the Latin Church, and 
also of the African slave-trade. Portugal sought and 
found India by the eastward route round the Cape of 
Good Hope, following up the discoveries of its dis- 
tinguished son. Prince Henry the Navigator. In 1442 
Pope Martin the Fifth's Bull assumed to confer on 
the Portuguese crown all the land it should conquer 
from Cape Bojador eastward to the Indies — that is, 
all Africa and India. The first result was the capture 
of ten negro slaves, as " souls " that " might be con- 
verted to the faith." These, the first African slaves, 
were presented to that Pope, and by 1537, under 
another Bull, a slave-market was opened in Lisbon 
where from ten to twelve thousand negroes were sold 
every year for transport to the West Indies. Spain, 
on the other hand, sought India under the Genoese 
navigator Columbus by the Avestward route, and found 
America for Ferdinand and Isabella. Los Reyes 
obtained from the most infamous of the Popes, 
Alexander the Sixth, by the Bull oF May 1493, recog- 
nition of their lordship over all that hemisphere. To 
keep the peace between Portugal and Spain and re- 
concile the two Bulls, he divided the sphere between 
them by an imaginary line from pole to pole drawn a 
hundred leagues to the west of the Azores and Cape 
Verde Islands. Thereupon, at Barcelona, nine Indians 
bought by Columbus were baptized, and one of them, 
who died immediately after, was declared to be the 
first of the dark races of that resfion who had entered 



5 50 GENERAL 

heaven. Another half century passed, and in 1562 
Su' John Hawkins carried off slaves from the Sierra 
Leone coast, starting the English iniquity for whicli 
the evangelical missionary William Carey was the first 
to begin the atonement in 1782. President Lincoln 
completed the American reparation by his proclama- 
tion during the great War of 1 86 2-66. 

To these two Papal documents should be added the 
Bull of I 540 (supplemented by that of 1543), by which 
Loyola's and Xavier's new Company or Order of Jesus 
received its charter and became, for the Romans, 
" the actual embodiment of the Church militant upon 
earth." 

In the four and a half centuries since Roman 
missions have been at work, Portugal and Spain, after 
their brilliant geographical discovery east and west, 
have been ejected from the greater part of India and 
Malaysia, and from the Philippines and the Pacific 
Islands. France, Italy, and even Austria have dis- 
tanced decadent Portugal and Spain in the missionary 
enterprise. France especially, discouraging the Church 
at home, has used it politicall}'^ abroad. In November 
1899 this occurred in the debate on the estimates 
for the Ministry for Foreign Aifairs in the French 
Chamber : — 

'' M. Delcasse asked the House to grant the full 
credit of 800,000 francs for the French religious 
establishments in the East, which was reduced by the 
Budget Committee. He showed the importance of 
maintaining the French protectorate over the Christians 
of Syria, and after alluding to the services rendered 
by the missions, declared that the subventions ought 
rather to be increased than decreased. The Minister's 
statement was cheered, and the credit of 800,000 
francs was voted by the Chamber." 

The data for Roman missions are very uncertain 
and incomplete. The missions are conducted by three 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 551 

great separate organisations at least — the Roman Pro- 
paganda, the Portuguese Church, and the Paris Society 
des Missions Etrangeres. The first may be said to 
raise ;^2 75,ooo from all parts of the world. To 
these must be added the work, chiefly in Africa 
since the accession of Pope Leo XIII. in 1878, 
of four modern organisations — the Congrega- 
tion of the Holy Ghost, the Lyons Society of 
African Missions, the Veronese Institute for the 
Missions of Nigritia, and the Algerine Congregation 
for the Conversion of the Soudan and Central Africa. 
The sum raised annually in the United Kingdom for 
the foreign missions of the Roman Church is believed 
not to exceed ;^i 3,000. On the ist day of 1899, 
after Lord Kitchener's conquest of the Soudan, a 
general collection was made, by the Pope's orders, to 
enable the Congregation de Propaganda Fide "to put 
down the curse of African slavery, and to establish in 
its place the voluntary and sweet service of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

St. Joseph's Society is a congregation of secular 
priests, established to propagate the Gospel among 
unevangelised races beyond Europe. Its mission fields 
are in Madras, North Borneo, and SaraAvak, among the 
Maoris of New Zealand, in Kafristan, Cashmere, and 
in Equatorial Africa. It has two colleges in England 
(one at Mill Hill) and two abroad. 

In 1888 the following was the strength of the 
Jesuit missions. The numl)ors are those of the various 
orders of the priesthood, priests, coadjutors, and "scholas- 
tiques," but in every case the number of priests is more 
than twice that of the other two orders put together. 
In the Balkan Peninsula there are 45 Jesuit mission- 
aries; in Africa, and especially Egypt, Madagascar, and 
the Zambezi region, 223 : in Asia, especially Armenia, 
Syria, certain parts of India, and parts of China, 699. 
In China alone the number is 195, all of French 



5 52 GENERAL 

nationality. In Oceania, including the Philippines, 
the Malay Archipelago, Australia, and New Zealand, 
the number is 270; in America, including certain 
specified States of the Union, portions of Canada, 
British Honduras, Brazil, and Peru, i 1 3 o ; the total 
number of Jesuits scattered over the globe in purely 
missionary work being 2377. These are of various 
nationalities, but the great majority are French. 

In India alone, where we have accurate statistics 
of the religions of the vast peoples — they numbered 
287^ millions ten years ago — the census showed that, 
including the small Portuguese and smaller French 
districts, there were 1,594,901 Roman and Roman- 
Syrian Christians. 

In Africa Cardinal Moran claims " about 2,000,000 
Catholics," but gives no details save this, that in Egypt 
they had increased from 7000 in 1800 to 80,000 
in 1890. Rev. L. C. Casartelli wrote in 1891 that 
" under the general supervision of Propaganda are at 
work an endless number of agencies — some societies 
exclusively devoted to foreign missionary work ; others, 
the religious orders, some ancient, some modern, which 
in addition to their ordinary labours in Christian lands, 
also take a large share of work on the foreign missions. 
That most powerful of all missionary societies, the 
Societc des Missions Etrangeres, whose head-quarters 
are in the Rue du Bac, Paris, is scarcely second to 
Propaganda itself. From this centre are supplied, 
with a never-failing stream of zealous apostles, the 
missions of a large portion of China, of Manchuria, 
Corea, Japan, Tibet, Tonking, Cochin-China, Siam, the 
Malay Peninsula, Burma, and parts of India. In these 
vast countries,ithe Society had 29 bishops, 783 European 
priests, 436 native priests, and 2031 catechists, whose 
services were devoted to the care of a Catholic popula- 
tion of 938,916 souls; and who, in 2267 schools and 
<»r|)hanages, arc educating over 60,000 native children." 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 



553 



This table contains the most recent figures show- 
ing the Propaganda work all over the world : — 



Propaganda Missions 




Clergy. 


Churches 


Schools 


to the 


Catholics. 




and 


and 


Heathen, 1898. 


\^S^ V && V4 ■ **^^# 


1 


Chapels. 


Colleges. 






European. ! Native. 

i 




528 


Ottoman Empire (Asia) 


129,680 


(?) 


(?) 


210 


Persia . . . . 


7.650 


12 




4 




Arabia and Aden 




1,500 


12 


4 


'"e 


India and Cej Ion 




) 1,178.325 
) 51.100 


777 303 


3.384 


1.835 


Burma . 




66 II 


314 


157 


Malay Peninsula 




17,880 


28 


2 


41 


41 


Slam 




28,000 


19 


18 


62 


65 


Indo-China . 




730,700 


285 ' 442 


2,962 


1.597 


Chinese Empire 




532,448 


759 409 


3.930 


2,962 


Corea . 




35.546 


35 6 


36 


35 


Japan . 




53.272 


116 1 26 


195 


60 


Borneo . 




1,200 


12 




14 


10 


Dutch East Indies 
Africa 1 . 


49,080 
458.170 


50 




48 
1,000 


17 
1,656 


V 

1,015 


Oceania . 


105,850 


215 


439 


298 


Patagonia and Indian 


) 








Missions of South and 


y 215,9462 


839- 


(?)2 


(?)- 


Central America 











III. Greek (Russian) Missions 

The Mission Board of the Russian Orthodox Church 
is under the patronage of the Empress, and under the 
presidency of Ivanniki, the Metropolitan of Moscow, 
the highest ecclesiastical dignitary in the empire. It 
finds support from the bishops of forty-one dioceses, 
and had recently a muster-roll of 9623 subscribing 
members. The central committee, a body of nine 
ecclesiastics and three laymen, hold their meetings 
in Moscow, In each bishopric there is a diocesan 
sub- committee, whose chief duty it is to collect sub- 
scriptions. The general funds of the board come 
through three channels: (i) Collecting boxes placed 
in prominent public places; (2) Church offertories; 

^ Under Propaganda only. ^ Returns exceedingly incomplete. 



5 54 GENERAL 

and (3) Donations and annual subscriptions. The 
entu'e income for one year was 286,826 roubles. 

The chief fields of work are Siberia, Japan, and the 
eastern portions of European Russia. In Siberia the 
work is carried on among the heathen Buriat, Tungus, 
and Yakut, and the Mohammedan Kirziz. Here there 
are three groups of mission stations, the Altai, the 
Irkutsk, and the Trans-Baikal group. Since its com- 
mencement, the Altai Mission has baptized more than 
15,000 persons. A point of imich interest is the 
prominent position of the schools in all the mission 
districts. In addition, there is a medical department 
which sometimes plays an important proselytising part. 

The Irkutsk mission-staff consists of nineteen priests 
and twenty-one assistants. They report that the Kirziz 
lamas energetically oppose them, using every effort to 
draw the converts back to heathenism ; but, notwith- 
standing this, the Irkutsk Mission can reckon 1798 
baptisms since its beginning in 1870. Thirteen 
schools have been established, but the attendance is 
not large. 

The mission to the east of the great Baikal lake is 
conducted by an archimandrite, two monks, two arch- 
priests, twenty priests, and thirteen assistants ; their 
work is among the Buriat and other wild Turki 
tribes inhabiting Djungaria and Eastern Turkistan. 
The missionaries report that in tlieir district there are 
about 15,000 lamas who exert themselves to destroy 
their influence, stirring the people to hold fast to their 
old faith. The report likewise speaks of " priests of 
the devil" as offering strong resistance to Christianity. 
These are probably the Shaman priests, as Shamanism 
is widely practised in all that region. During one 
year there were 485 baptisms in the Trans-Baikal 
Mission district. There are now more tlian 100 
schools ; but doubtless most of them, here as in other 
districts, arc of a very ])rimitive nature, and have been 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 555 

established to meet the necessities of the uunitrous 
Russian settlers in Eastern Siberia. In the town of 
Chita there is a confraternity of Russians who render 
large support to these schools. The extreme eastern 
portion of the district is Kamtschatka, where the 
missionaries are at work among the Golt and Iliak 
tribes of that inhospitable region ; a few Chinese and 
Manchurians are likewise included in their range. 

The extension and approaching completion of the 
Siberian railway will certainly develop these missions. 

IV. The Language of the British Empire 

Ninety years ago French was spoken by about 
31,000,000 people, German by 30,000,000, Russian 
by 30,000,000, Spanish by 27,000,000, Italian by 
16,000,000, Portuguese by 9,000,000, and English 
by 21,000,000. To-day English is the language of 
about 125,000,000, French of 45,000,000, German 
of 55,000,000, Russian of 75,000,000, Spanish of 
40,000,000, Italian of 35,000,000, and Portuguese 
of I 2,000,000. In other words, during the nineteenth 
century English not only has risen from the fifth place 
to the first, but also has gained enormously on the 
rest in relative magnitude, expanding from about 
I 3 per cent, of the total to about 3 o per cent. 

According to Sir Robert Giffen, in a paper read 
by him at the Colonial Institute, the British Empire 
is a territory of i 1,500,000 square miles, or 13,000,000 
if Egypt and the Soudan be included ; and in that 
territory is a population of 407,000,000, or 420,000,000 
reckoning Egypt. .It is these 420,000,000 of human 
beings especially, but also all the other dark peoples, 
whom Christian missions seek to elevate. Gathered 
out of the dark races by the Reformed Missions, there 
are now livinir Christian connnimities which number 
5,000,000 : those claimed by the older Roman Missions 



5 56 GENERAL 

are not fewer. The two, with the smaller results of 
the Greek Church, may be taken at 10,500,000. 

V, Secondary or Sociological Results of 
Christian Missions 

The Empire owes to Christian principles, and to 
Christian men and women, at once its expansion and 
its influence on the dark races of mankind. Many of 
the social results of the Ethnic Religions, whether the 
demon-worship of the savages of Africa or the nature- 
worship of the more cultured Asiatics, or the ancestor- 
worship of the Mongolians, or the teaching of the 
Koran of Mohammed, are contrary to human virtue 
and progress, sometimes even to Nature itself. The 
description of Paul in his letter to the Roiiians of 
the first century, whom Christianity transformed into 
Europe and America as they are now, is still true of 
the non-Christian majority of mankind. Hence the 
moral and historical feature of the nineteenth century, 
which marks it out from all its predecessors, is the 
social and political decay of the Ethnic and the rapid 
advance and influence of the Christian peoples, especi- 
ally the English-speaking and Teutonic. Christianity 
is rapidly changing a downward into an upward evolu- 
tion wherever it seeks an entrance. By their educa- 
tional, industrial, and medical methods, and by woman's 
influence on lier own sex, Christian missions apply 
the supernatural teaching of the one Son of Man 
with marvellous results acknowledged by all impartial 
experts, from Darwin and other scientists to our politi- 
cal statesmen and administrators. To this new and 
fertile field of sociology James S. Dennis, D.D., tlie 
American Presbyterian professor, of lioirut, Syria, has 
devoted in detail and with pliilosophic gras]) his three 
elaborate volumes on "Christian Missions and Social 
Progress " ( i 897- 1 900). Among non-Christian ])ooplcs 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 557 

Christianity, by its missionaries, is there pi'ovod in great 
detail to create a new type of individual character and 
a new public opinion. It establishes and promotes 
education, it reduces languages to writing and gives 
them a pure literature, while advancing scholarship 
and science. It awakes tlie philanthropic spirit, and 
presents personal examples which irresistibly draw and 
assimilate. the uncivilised. It introduces new national 
aspirations and higher conceptions of governuient as 
well as of life. It lays the foundation of a new and 
upward social order. It justifies, wherever purely and 
sincerely a[)plied, the divine claims of its Founder, and 
opens the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 

By JOHN M. ROBERTSON 

Empire, in the proper meaning of the term, is domina- 
tion ; and it is only in a loose sense that it fits the re- 
lation of Britain to her self-governing colonies. The 
social problems of such colonies are much the same as 
those of the mother country, and will be solved by 
themselves if at all. Only in a restricted sense has 
she any such "duties" towards them as call for present 
attention. If we are to consider the duties of empire 
for Britain we must have regard above all things 
to those parts of "the" empire where we, ourselves self- 
sroverninw, bear rule over other races, who are treated 
as incapable of self-government. And as India is of 
all such parts of the empire the most extensive, the 
most interesting, the most significant, and the most 
commonly studied, it is by considering the case of 
India that we can best, in a brief space, develop our 
problem. 



In the year 1853 was published John William 
Kaye's book on " The Administration of the East India 
Company," which begins with these sentences : — 

" When Mr. Barlow, then Secretary to the Indian Govern- 
ment, drew up the ehiborate minute on which the Bengal 
Regulations of 1793 were based, Sir William Jones, to whom 
this important document was submitted, struck his pen across 
the first three words. Tlic correction which he made was a 
significant one. Barlow had written : ' The two important 

5S8 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 559 

objects which the Government ought to have in view in all 
its arrangements, are to ensure its political safety, and to 
render the possession of the country as advantageous as pos- 
sible to the East India Company and the British Nation.' 
Sir William Jones, I have said, erased the first three words. 
Instead of ' the two principal ' objects he wrote : ' two of the 
primary objects ' ; and then he appended this marginal note : 
• I have presumed to alter the first words. Surely the principal 
object of every Government is the happiness of the governed.' 
Sixty years have passed away since that significant correction 
was made, and it is now a moot question whether the practice 
of the British Government in India, throughout that time, has 
been in accordance with the words of Mr. Barlow, or those of 
Sir William Jones." 

As a matter of fact, Barlow's vieAv was not so very 
different from that of Sir William Jones, for lie had 
gone on to write that " it is a source of pleasing 
reflection to know that in proportion as we contribute 
to the happiness of the people and the prosperity of 
the country the nearer we approach to the attainment 
of these objects. If the people are satisfied with our 
government, we shall be certain that they wish for 
its continuance ; and as the country increases in 
wealth, the greater wdll be the advantages which we 
shall derive from it." Honesty was thus to be the 
best policy ; and after all even Sir William Jones too 
regarded gain to the East India Company as one of 
the " primary objects " of the administration. 

Kaye, a man of judicial cast of mind, goes on to 
avow how difficult was the problem put by Barlow as 
that of Indian government, namely, to enable the 
people to " reap the profit of their labours." Had 
that end been achieved, he remarks, " that would have 
been achieved by Indian administrators, which, so 
far as the range of my knowledge extends, has yet^ 
been achieved by no administrators under heaven 
This, humanly speaking, indeed, is the greatest prob- 



56o GENERAL 

lem under heaven. It is nothing, therefore, to say- 
that in India the riohts of labour have not been 

O 

determined — that its claims have not been ac- 
knowledged — in a manner to give entire satisfaction 
to every benevolent mind. Under the most favourable 
circumstances, we can only arrive at something of 
an approximation." 

From this point of view, recognising the difficulties 
and no less the shortcomings of those who dealt 
with them, Kaye finally pronounces that " Never at 
any time has the Government of India evinced, by 
acts of practical beneficence, so kindly an interest 
in the welfare of the people as in the last few years." ^ 
That was written in 1853. In 1857 broke out 
the Indian Mutiny. And whereas Kaye before the 
explosion had been impressed by the greatly increased 
beneficence of the administration, J. M. Ludlow, 
writing in 1858, with a large Anglo-Indian knowledge, 
declares that '■ it has been admitted to me over and 
over again, from experience derived from the most 
opposite quarters of India, by every man really con- 
versant with native feeling," that '' Englishmen as such 
are objects of hatred to a large portion of the native 
population." "^ Instead of chronicling an improvement 
about 1850, Ludlow cites the evidence of men who 
affirmed that in the thirty years then past there had 
gone on a great deterioration in Anglo-Indian manners 
and methods. I do not say that this testimony is 
decisive : there is a clear conflict of evidence ; and we 
shall find a similar confiict in regard to the state of 
things to-day as compared Avith that of fifty years 
ago ; but, remembering that tlie Mutiny did take 
place a few years after Kaye drew good augury Irom 
his knowledge, it seems worth while to note how 
abundiint the contrary testimony then available was. 

' \Vi)ik cited, ]). C57. 
'^ " British liuii.i, its Races and its History," ii. p. 353. 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 561 

I transcribe a page or two froui Liidluw ^ on the 
subject : — 

"I do not tliink it possible to take up any l)ook relating 
the personal experience of an Englishman or Englishwoman in 
India, and not written for the sake of getting up a case in 
favour of the Government, and to rise from its perusal without 
the feeling that the behaviour of our countrymen in India 
generally must be such as to draw upon them the hatred of the 
natives. Sometimes this feeling is the result of the evident 
absence of all moral principle in the writer. More often it is 
directly impressed upon us by his narrative. It matters little 
what is his calling. Bishop Heber, in his Journal ; the Rev. 
Mr. Acland, in his "Manners and Customs of India"; Colonel 
Sleeman, from Central India ; Captain Hervey, from the South 
— women, even, like Mrs. Colin Mackenzie — all relate similar 
tales of brutality on the part of Englishmen towards natives, 
even in the restraining presence of their own countrymen. 
Mr. Acland will tell of deliberate insolence towards a raja in 
Cuttack, and how Englishmen, hunting on his land, and making 
use of his coolies and elephants, could not even wait for the 
' beastly nigger ' to hunt with them. Captain Hervey, who so 
late as 1850 speaks of 'the harsh measures generally adopted 
by all classes of Europeans ' towards the natives, asks, ' Where 
are the Englishmen who would tamely submit to be dealt with 
as the natives of India often are ? The very brutes that perish 
are not so treated ' ; and declares that our good folks in England 
know not of the goings on in India. To maltreat a yiative is 
considered a meritorious act ; and the younger branches of the 
service think it very fine to curse and swear at them, kick and 
buffet them. A relative of mine wrote to me from India only 
the other day, that he had known a European officer who kept 
an orderly for the sole purpose of thrashing his native servants; 
that another was recently tried for beating his orderly because 
he did not thrash his servants hard enough. Another relative 
of mine, an officer in a Bombay regiment, wrote lately in terms 
of just disgust at the conduct of the young officers of his corps 
towards their native servants ; maltreating them, leaving their 

^ " British India, its Races and its History," ii. pp. 356-58. 
V 2 N 



562 GENERAL 

wages unpaid for a twelvemonth ; and yet some of these men 
were so faithful that they would pawn their own clothes to 
procure grain for their masters' horses. 

" 'I have been saying for years past,' says an Englishman, 
recently returned to Southern India, ' that if a man who left 
India thirty years ago were now to revisit it, he would scarcely 
credit the change he would universally witness in the treatment 
of the natives, high and low. The English were not then 
absolute masters everywhere. Now they are. Eestraint is 
cast away ; and as one generation of functionaries succeeds 
another every twenty-five years, those in authority set to those 
coming after them the example of supercilious arrogance and 
contempt of the people, which they have been following from 
the beginning of their career. The past of the natives, there- 
fore, has not a shadow of existence in the minds of their rulers, 
nor has their future in their own eyes a ray of hope, inasmuch 
as those rulers regard their present abject degradation as their 
normal condition, and feel neither pity nor compunction in 
perpetrating it. The universal phrase is, ' They are unfit for, 
or are unworthy of anything better.' 

" Sir Charles Napier, in Scinde, reckons, as one of the 
things which young officers think they must do to be gentle- 
manly, ' that they should be insolent to black servants. 
' Amongst the civilians,' he said, ' with many exceptions, how- 
ever, there is an aping of greatness, leaving out that which 
marks the really high-born gentleman and lady — kindness and 
politeness to those below them.' If he knew 'anything of 
good manners, nothing could be worse than those of India 
towards natives of all ranks — a vulgar Ijoliaduring. ... I 
speak of the manners of the military of l)oth armies.' Partial 
as he was to military men, he refused ofiicers a passage in his 
merchant steamers on the Indus, knowing that ' tliey would go 
on board, occupy all the room, treat his rich merchants and 
supercargoes with insolence, and very probably drink and 
thrash the people.' Such deeds were done as made him 
wonder that we held India a year." 

In the face of all this, it is impossible that thought- 
ful people at home, conscious of a measure of re- 
sponsibility for Indian government, should not ask 



DUTIES OF EMPLRE 563 

themselves how far the conditions have been changed. 
To-day, as in 1853, we hear weighty assurances as 
to the beneficence of our rule : is it possible that in 
a few years they may be confuted by events as 
before ? What about the countervailing testimony ? 
If Eoiye, with all his approbation for British benefi- 
cence, could admit that after fifty years it was a 
moot point whether Barlow's ideal had been tran- 
scended, whether India was being ruled for her sake 
or ours, can we say that it is not a moot point after 
fifty years more ? I turn to a work on " The Retention 
of India," by Mr. Andrew Halliday, published in 1871, 
and I find this question put (pp. 160-61) as de- 
cisive : — 

"It would be well for this country to consider what would 
be the consequences of the loss of the Indian Empire. What 
would be the fate of those dependent for subsistence on the 
Indian revenues, and what would become of the vast sums 
invested in Indian secui'ities, railways, and other property 1 
If this country does not watcli tlie frontier question, and is 
not prepared to repel invasion, the result may be a frightful 
amount of imuperism in tins count nj, atnowj classes ill adapted 
by nature to a state of penury. ^^ 

Here, assuredly, there has been small advance on 
Barlow's ideal. India is avowedly a great source of 
income to a multitude of well-to-do people in this 
country ; and on that ground we are to defend it. 
And a number of observers tell us that no matter 
how good may be the intentions of the Government 
at any given moment ; no matter hoAv disinterested 
the labours of many of its subordinates or how 
genuine their philanthropy, India under British rule 
continues poor, and tends to grow poorer ; under 
which circumstances it is hardly necessary to ask 
wdiether the natives in the mass are well-pleased. 
There is clearly, then, a vital problem to investigate. 



564 GENERAL 



II 

Broadly considered, the main sociological symptoms 
of India may be stated as follows : — 

1 . Poverty among the vast mass of the people ; 
and debt among the agriculturists. 

2. A constant excess of exports over imports, signi- 
fying " tribute " paid to England, in salaries and 
pensions and interest on debt. 

3. Very doubtful progress in the faculty and prac- 
tice of self-government among the people. 

Probably none of these propositions will be disputed 
by qualiiiod judges; but for the sake of the less- 
informed citizen I will cite some evidence offered by 
Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, not as being specially 
authoritative, but as being specially clear. And first 
as to indebtedness : — • 

"In old times, as I understand the case, in Oriental lands 
money was practically unknown to the peasantry. Their deal- 
ings were in kind, and especially the land-tax paid to the 
Government was paid not in coin Init in corn. The whole of 
the peasants' s^ecurity, therefore, if they wanted to borrow, 
was their crop ; and if at sowing time they needed seed, it was 
recoverable only at the harvest, at which time also the 
GovernuKMit took its share — a tenth according to strict Mo- 
hammedan l;iw, or it might be a hftli, or in times of grievous 
tyranny the half. Nothing more, however, than the crop of 
the year was forthcoming. No lender, therefore, would ad- 
vance the impecunious cultivator more than his seed corn or 
the loan of a yoke of oxen. . . . 

"But with European administration came other doctrines. 
Wealth, our economists affirmed, must not be idle ; production 
must be increased ; resources must be developed ; ca))ital must 
be thrown into the land. The revenue, above all things, must 
be made regular*and secure. In order to effect this, payment 
in money was substituted for payment in kind. ... So much 
coin must be forthcoming every year as the tax on so many 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 565 

acres. ... In the country districts of India, as in Egypt, 
corn could not be sold in the public market at its full market 
price, and . . . the peasant had the choice either of selling at 
a grievous loss or of borrowing the money. He generally 
borrowed. I believe it may be stated absolutely that the 
whole of peasant indebtedness in either country originally 
came from the necessity thus imposed of finding coin to pay 
the land-tax. 

" The change, however, put immediate wealth into the 
hands of Government . . . and, by an inevitable process of 
financial reasoning, borrowing was encouraged. ... In order to 
enable the agriculturist to borrow, he must be able to give his 
debtor something of more value than the crop in his field. 
Then why not the field itself ? The laws of mortgage and 
recovery of debt by safe and easy process were consequently 
introduced, and courts appointed for the protection of creditors. 
This completed the peasant's ruin. Finding money suddenly 
at his disposal, he borrowed without scruple, not only to pay 
taxes and to improve his land, but also for his amusements. 
Whether I am right or wrong in the details of this history, it 
is an indisputable fact that at the present moment there is 
hardly a vilhige in British India which is not deeply, hopelessly 
in debt. In the course of my inquiries I do not remember to 
have met with a single instance of a village clear of debt even 
in Bengal." ^ 



D" 



Concerning the agricultural population in general, 
Mr. Blunt sums up to similar effect : — 

"1^0 one accustomed to Eastern travel can fail to see how 
poor the Indian peasant is. . . . From ]\Iadras to Bombay, and 
from Bombay again to the Ganges Valley . . . one passes not 
half-a-dozen towns, nor a single village, which has a prosperous 
look. The fields, considering the general lightness of the soil, 
are not ill-cultivated ; but there is much waste land, and in 
the scattered villages there is an entire absence of well-built 
houses, enclosed gardens, or large groves of fruit-trees — the 
signs of' individual wealth which may be found in nearly 

^ "Ideas about India," 18S5, pp. 22-25. 



566 GENERAL 

every other Oriental country. The houses are poorer tlian in 
Asia Minor or Syria, or even Egypt, and are uniform in their 
poverty. . . . 

"Xor is the aspect of poverty less startling if one looks 
closer. Entering a Deccan village, one is confronted with 
peasants nearly naked, and if one asks for the headman, one 
finds him no better clothed than the rest. The huts are bare 
of furniture ; the copper pots are rare ; the women are without 
ornaments. These are the common signs of indigence in the 
East, and here they are universal. . . . They eat rice only on 
holidays. Their ordinary food is millet mixed with salt and 
water, and flavoured with red peppers; and of this they partake 
only sufficient to support life." ^ 

All of which testimony, in a general way, is corro- 
borated by entirely independent evidence, such as that 
of the Rev. Mr. Wilkins, who adduces further evils : — 

" Bad as was the condition of the slave in the Southern 
States of America, the condition of multitudes of the poor 
peoi^le in Bengal is in some respects worse. . . . Tiie cultivator 
has to pay a rent that is difficult to raise in fruitful seasons ; 
but when the rainfall is low and his crops small, he has to 
accept loans at exorbitant interest from his landlord, and when 
once he becomes indebted it is almost impossible ever to free 
himself from the chains. The interest he is compelled to pay 
leaves little to support himself and his family. In addition to 
the normal fixed rent which liis landlord has a legal right to 
demand, other exactions are made which reduce the tenants to 
abject poverty. ... A marriage or death, or any extraordinary 
ex])ense that landlords may incur, is a sufficient reason for 
demanding an extra sum from the tenants. ... If they speak 
of their grievances, their cattle and ploughs" may be seized. 
They have nothing but what is pawned to the landlord, or to 
some money-lending go-between. 'I'here is widespread oppres- 
sion, and the grinding poverty of the people forces itself into 
notice. Bengal, one of the ricliest soils on the earth, which in 
many yiarts is ablf to sn|i]ir»rt a larger population than it has, is 



1 Work cited, pp. 1 1-13. 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 567 

in such a condition that, if a single season's rains are withheld, 
unless help is given by the Government and charitably dis- 
posed people, it would be decimated by famine. The country 
produces sufficient in years of plenty to provide for its people 
in the years of scarcity ; but as they live from hand to mouth, 
and cannot save anything for such contingencies, they are 
entirely dependent on others when the rains fail." ^ 

From authorities in no way identified with the 
spirit of criticism we have admissions which, taken 
with such testimony as the foregoing, seem decisive : — 

"After a minute comparison," writes Sir AVilliam Hunter, 
" of rural India at present with tlie facts disclosed in the 
manuscript records, I am compelled to the conclusion that 
throughout large tracts the struggle for life is harder than it 
was when the country passed into our hands." 

Sir James Caird, writing in 1883, declared that — 

"The available good land in India is nearly all occupied. 
There are extensive areas of good waste land covered with 
jungle . . . which might be reclaimed ; but for that object 
capital must be employed, and the people have little to spare. 
The produce of the country, on an average of years, is barely 
sufficient to maintain the present population and mflke a saving 
for occasional famine. . . . Scarcity, deepening into famine, is 
thus becoming of more frequent occurrence. . . . There are 
more people to feed every year from land which, in many parts 
of India, is undergoing gradual deterioration." ^ 

This is corroborated by one of the reports of the 
Famine Commission of twenty years ago, which points 
to the normal starving of the land by the agriculturist 
and admits : — 

" Of these faults he is generally conscious ; but they are 
largely due to his poverty, and it is of no avail to ask him to 

^ "Modern Hinrluism," 2nd ed., 1900, pp. 159-60. 

- "India: the Land and the People," 3id ed., p. 212. Compare 
the judgment of Mr. J. A. Baines, C.I.E., as given in vol. i. of the 
present series ("India," pp. 27, 353). 



568 GENERAL 

correct them as long as he is unable to buy and to feed more 
and stronger bullocks, and to save his manure. . . . " ^ 

As regards the constant excess of exports over 
imports, it is unnecessary to cite tlie figures of the 
year-books. What needs to be emphasised is the fact 
that this excess represents an annual gain to the home 
population at the expense of the Indian, though it be 
all duly accounted for as pay, pensions, and interest on 
investments. That the Anglo-Indian civil service is 
the most expensive in the world is as certain as that 
it draws its pay from the poorest population. As 
to its relative efficiency there need here be no 
question : the trouble is that while it subsists it is a 
factor in Indian impoverishment, since it cannot be 
shown that it develops resources in proportion to its 
cost; and there is no hope of its cost being reduced. 
One of the criticisms passed on the administration of 
the Native States by an experienced Anglo-Indian is 
that " the salaries of magistrates and other public 
servants are far below what, by experience, we have 
found to be necessary for competent and honest 
officials." " Economy, then, would involve corruption.^ 
And while the Indian administration is thus a means 
of providing good incomes for large numbers of 
British officials, who as a rule finally expend their 
wealth at home, nevertheless the expense of every 
extension of British rule in Asia — as in the annexation 
of Burmah— is charged to the Indian revenue, which 
has thus to meet the burden of a policy that benefits 
only the conquerors. 

If withal the Indian populations were being 

' Cited by Mr. A. K. Connell, "The Economic Revolution of India," 
1883, p. 176. 

^ Sir W. Lee-Warner, C.S L, in vol. i. of this series, p. 285. 

•' On the other liand, Mr. Romesh Dutt, CLE., complains that the 
police under British rule are relatively so badly paid as to be very 
ineflicient, and that better work could be got from natives at half the 
."•alary. Ibid., pj). 314-15. 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 569 

gradually fitted to manage their own affairs, there 
would be small ground for criticism. That they cannot 
at present be left to themselves without worse harm 
accruing is beyond dispute. Another conquering 
Power indeed might administer more economically ; 
but there is no reason to believe that any other Power 
capable of holding India would be more conscientious 
in its general policy than we. A policy of education, 
then, would substantially moralise the situation : it is 
not even pretended, however, that such an education 
of the Indian peoples is aimed at by the Imperial 
Government. The Indian Congress Movement is no 
doubt officially protected against the general official 
hostility; and some Anglo-Indians give it a generous 
support ; but the principle that natives should every- 
where be invited for public posts of all grades is not 
only not recognised, it is negated ; and the poHcy of 
enforcing a British training on all Avho seek to enter 
the higher civil service has had the effect of wilfully 
enhancing its costliness. 

As regards the proper foundation of all self-govern- 
ment, village autonomy and municipal freedom, the 
difficulties of development suffice to furnish an excuse 
for endorsing stagnation. Because Oriental cities are 
slow to take to sanitation, exactly as were the foul cities 
of the West only a century ago, the Imperial Government 
tends to put numicipal rule aside ; though its own 
ideals and methods are the result of the srradual 
evolution of just such municipalities. It is no part 
of administrative wisdom to recognise that societies 
evolve. * And while most men admit that in theory 
the autonomous village is a vital unit ; while in Britain 
itself there has been a deliberate attempt to restore or 
create it by way of the Parish Council ; that of India is 
left to the drift of the capitalistic regimen and imperial 
organisation. So far as I am aware, no witness, 
official or unofficial, alleges any general development 



570 GENERAL 

of self-governing liabits or institutions among the 
mass of the agricultural populations ; and many 
writers allege retrogression. 

This very stagnation, in turn, is made by many 
a ground for denying that anything else is possible. 
Many men suppose that mere prolonged residence in 
the East entitles them to be believed when they affirm 
that the East is unchangeable ; as if the mass even 
of educated observers anywhere had ever reached 
scientific conceptions of social law. The case of Japan, 
as it happens, proves that the East is capable, under 
favouring conditions, of a rate of social change that 
has never been witnessed in the whole history of the 
West. Thereupon, however, we are told that Japan 
is not " typically " Oriental, though its neighbour 
China is, with a similar population and language. 
Such theorising can command no authority with 
thinking people. Granting that India cannot con- 
ceivably evolve with Japanese rapidity, we are bound 
to regard its case in the light of the same general 
law : social evolution occurs in terms of the conditions, 
external and internal ; the former inchidiug geographi- 
cal and political relations, and the latter including the 
physiological and the psychological factors, that is, the 
temperamental bias and the hoi'cditary culture of the 
people. An educative administration, then, would 
seek constructively to modify the conditions in so far 
as they are modifiable. 

As matters stand we are faced by the extensive 
anomaly that while the Indian populations arc recog- 
nised to be throuefh their conditions less, and not more, 
variable than others, the imperial system, in so far as 
it attacks the environment at all, runs mainly to the 
introduction of elements which mean a minimum of 
action or choice among the people themselves. Fiscally, 
the .system is one of European capitalism ; industrially, 
it is one of European communication. Its typical 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 571 

instrument is the railway, precisely the most nnspon- 
taneous institution that could well be introduced. The 
main functions of the railway are to facilitate (i) mili- 
tary movements ; (2) rapid conveyance of food in times 
of famine; (3) movement of numbers of the people — 
three things Avhich at first sight seem pure gain. But 
when it is noted that the popular use of the railways 
on a large scale is mainly by way of excursions to reli- 
gious shrines, and that the more lines are developed 
the more they are needed to deal with famine, it 
begins to appear that the problem is intricate and full 
of counteractions. If better communications help to 
make the people at once more devotedly superstitious 
and less capable of fending off famine for themselves ; 
if native industry is being disorganised Avithout any 
call upon native initiative to readjust things, the work 
of the imperial system is so far disintegrative rather 
than constructive. Its very benevolence is making 
the people less capable of bearing the burden which, 
whether for their sake or for its OAvn, it is all the while 
laying upon them. Broadly speaking, then, we seem 
to be faced by deepening popular poverty on the one 
hand and limitation of popular energy on the other. 



Ill 

Such a way of putting things may seem to many 
readers an outcome rather of the spirit of carping than 
of the spirit of science. The Indian Government, they 
may protest, is implicitly condemned at once for 
activity and for laissez-faire ; for seeking to make pro- 
gress and for leaving things alone. In all its various 
stages, they may add, our Indian administration has 
been denounced by some malcontents, and were a new 
policy tried to-morrow it would be assailed in the same 
way by those who believe in the old, or in yet another. 

I am ready to grant the general demurrer, and 



572 GENERAL 

even to go further, to the extent of admitting that 
there is an element of conflict in much of the testi- 
mony offered as to Indian poverty and administrative 
backsliding. We have read weighty assurances that 
in the last half century the soil and the people are 
growing rapidly poorer. But fifty years ago there 
were many similar protests. Captain Hervey, writing 
in 1850, expressly contrasts the prosperous appearance 
of the natives in the French settlement of Pondicherry 
with the " poverty-stricken look " of those of the British 
territories, and speaks of a " fearful extent " of misery 
among the latter.^ Mr. Petrie, an engineer, examined 
before the Cotton Committee of 1848, declared that 
in the southern districts, with which he was acquainted, 
the level of poverty was " very low indeed " ; that he 
had never known a cultivator to have even a small 
capital ; and that there had been no betterment during 
the five years of his stay." At that period it was 
common to say that the boundaries between Company's 
territory and native states was easily known by the 
superior condition of the latter ; and already the culti- 
vator and the trader in British territory were described 
in the Bombay Times as " both broken in spirit, over- 
burdened, and steeped in debt." ^ And, apart from 
dubious statements about ryots, who say they " had 
money once, but none now," there is the publicly given 
testimony of officials of high standing in 1848, that 
" almost everything forces us to the conviction that we 
have before us a narrowing progress to utter pau- 
perism ;"* while missionaries and others describe the 
state of the people in Bengal, in 1855, as one of the 
deepest wretchedness.^ 

Again, we have seen Mr. Blunt testifying that 
there is no longer the kindly intercourse between the 

' "Ten Years in India," i. i8 ; ii. aSi. 

^ Cited Vjy Ludlow, ii. 325. » Ibid., ii. 326. 

* Ibid., ii. 326. ' Ibid., j). 329. 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 573 

natives and the English official class that prevailed in 
the time of the Company.^ But as against such a 
view we have the impressive body of evidence grouped 
by Ludlow, to show that in the Company's day the 
natives were often grossly maltreated by its officials 
and by the military. Mr. Blunt indeed tells a very 
painful story of wanton English insolence to natives of 
good standing, and shows that in the Indian hotels 
Englishmen regard the appearance of a native gentle- 
man as Americans do that of any coloured man ; but 
no one suggests that the old brutalities are now 
common. And, as against Mr. Blunt's view that there 
was no money indebtedness before the British period, 
we have the apparently just conclusion of the Famine 
Comiuission of twenty years ago, that the agricultural 
population of India were never at any period generally 
free of debt, " although individuals or classes may have 
fallen into deeper embarrassment under the British 
rule than was common under the native dynasties 
which preceded it." 2 

All things considered, it is to be suspected that 
the lament over Indian decline has something in 
common with the home lament over the decay of 
domestic service. The phrase in " As You Like It," 
about " the constant service of the antique world," 
reveals that the normal outcry of our own day about 
bad servants was familiar in the age of Queen Eliza- 
beth. Instead, then, of believing in a continuous 
decline of Indian life from depth to deeper depth of 
poverty, we seem led to the simple conclusion — surely 
serious enough — that the Indian mass remains steadily 
poor throughout the ages, and that our rule in this 
regard simply makes no difference for the better, 
while the normal increase of population under the 

^ Compare the similar remarks of Mr. Romesh Dutt, in vol. i. of 
this series, p. 318. 

- Cited hy Mr. Connell, "Economic Revolution," p, 174. 



574 GENERAL 

fax Britannica involves the friglitful offset of more 
extensive and destructive famines tlian ever occurred 
of old. On that head there is certainly no improve- 
ment. Famines grow more frequent and more destruc- 
tive : the death-roll of the last is too appalling for 
words, and withal the loss of cattle is so frightful as 
to promise a further and worse starvation of the soil, 
involving more famine. Mimicipal government fails to 
develop, whether from lack of fail- freedom or from 
lack of patience on the part of the ruling class. The 
total situation is certainly not improving. 

On this guarded footing, with some of the darker 
evidence discounted, and with the theory of continuous 
and rapid material decline put out of court, we are 
still forced to recognise that, on the other hand, the 
common felicitations as to the " blessings of our rule " 
are sadly out of place. They set up a state of illusion ; 
and they recoil on our own administration, inasmuch as 
they breed a widely mistaken notion as to the possibility 
of betterment of life in India. People taught to think 
that British rule there has done and is doing wonders, 
are not unlikely, when faced by the evaded facts, to be 
unduly wrathful over the reality. The plain fact is 
that we cannot speedily change the lot of the Indian 
peoples to any great extent. We do not so better the 
lot of our masses at home : how should we do more 
with a vast world of puUulating races, varying between 
the primitive and the hyper-civilised, in a land chroni- 
cally cursed with such famines as Europe has never 
known ? 

Surely, instead of habitually vaunting that we to- 
day rule so much better than did the rulers of three 
or five centuries ago, when Europe itself, England 
included, was more or less barbarously ill-governed, we 
should <lo well to reckon up first the arrears of our 
own administration, which so long allowed old pro- 
visory machinery to lie in ruin, and which year by 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 575 

year creates for itself new problems, vast enough for 
all the political wisdom of the planet, and more than 
all the goodwill of the ruling class. Such calculations 
are of course irksome. Englishmen do not like to 
reflect how much their fathers did to poison or kill the 
very roots of Irish life when they were dwarfing alike 
mechanical and rural industry through successive 
generations of infamous egoism. As little do they 
like to reckon up the harm their forefathers did in 
India, not merely to the contemporary victims of their 
egoism and rapacity, but to what there was of national 
life, of collective faculty for development, regeneration, 
reconstruction. Habitual self-praise is so much more 
agreeable an exorcise than habitual self-criticism ; 
boasting so much more pleasant than remorse. Reform, 
as Carlyle has it, is not joyous, but grievous. And yet 
a real and justified consciousness of betterment is so 
comforting to those who truly care to know things as 
they are, that even the burden of rigorous comparison 
and constant appraisement might, one would think, be 
willingly borne in the hope of attaining the solace. 
However that may be, this much is sure, that if such 
discipline be not faced and borne, there is not only no 
possibility of betterment, there will ensue that kind of 
worsenment which is most incurable, the lowering of 
ideals. From perpetual boasting without reason we 
shall pass to a state of apathy before evil that even 
vanity is tired of boasting over. And then decadence 
has come for the " Paramount Race," Avhatever be the 
fate of that in subjection, 

IV 

To prescribe in detail methods of reform for India 
from a mere outsider's point of view would be pre- 
sumption indeed. Such counsel must come from men 
who add to ripe Indian experience the spirit of social 



576 GENERAL 

science and the creed of progress ; and not merely from 
Englishmen among these but from natives of educa- 
tion, judgment, and experience. So far from making 
light of expert knowledge in such a connection, I 
should say that we need to utilise all the expert know- 
ledge in existence. And that is certainly not to be 
found in the civil service. Mr. Kipling has at times 
taken pains to deride the incompetence of opinions on 
Indian matters framed by home politicians. But he 
has also produced a story entitled " Tod's Amendment," 
from which it would appear that certain high person- 
ages responsible for the framing of a new law in an 
Indian province received from the chance talk of a 
small boy, who had intercourse with native opinion in 
the bazaars, a little vital knowledge which revolu- 
tionised their scheme. They had been framing their 
law in utter ignorance of the most obvious and 
elementary objections to it. The home amateur 
coidd hardly do worse. And I hesitate to say how 
disrespectful are some of the judgments I have heard 
passed by experienced Anglo-Indians on Mr. Kipling's 
own pretensions to " know " the conditions of Indian 
life in general. The more reason, certainly, why the 
rest of us should iear to frame schemes of reform. It' 
is not for men out of India to decide how best the 
principle of municipal self-government can be fostered 
there. We shall all do well to keep in mind these 
words of Kaye, in the preface to his second edition : — 

"India, witli all its local peculiarities ami ethnological 
varieties, is so vast and comprehensive a subject, that with 
increased study and reflection comes increased diffidence. . . . 
There is no snl)ject, indeed, on wliich it becomes a man to 
Avrite or speak witli more modesty and reserve. For my own 
part, though now for nearly twenty years T liave been with 
little interruption reading and writing a])out India; tliougli nil 
this time it has been the business of my life to collect facts 
and to mature opinions relating to this great subject ; though 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 577 

botli in ill" East and tlio West tlu; companions of nij' solitude 
and my sot'ial life, the books and the men Avith whom I have 
been familiar, have been mainly such as are depositaries of 
English information ; although I have had access to such stores 
of unpublished decuments, the wealth alike of i)ublic and of 
private archives, as few men havehad the good fortune to approach 
or the patience to examine, I am not ashamed to confess that 
there are many great questions connected with the administration 
of our Indian Empire upon which I am competent to express 
only a qualiKed, hesitating opinion, or none at all." 

As we have seen, Kaye Avith all his caution was 
optimistic about Indian government within four years 
of the Mutiny — a deadly corroboration of his diffi- 
dence, and a reminder that it is one thing to profess 
general diffidence and another to be eft'ectually pos- 
sessed by it. It seems well, then, to avoid forecasts. 
But it is possible, on the basis of universally accepted 
testimony, to point to those forces in Indian life Avhich 
must clearly be controlled or guided if there is to be 
any general betterment. We have noted the three 
main evils of poverty, indebtedness, and incapacity 
for self-help among the mass of the people. In 
obvious correlation "with all of those evils is the 
omnipresent fact of over-population, a fact founded 
upon, indeed, by many of the panegyrists of our rule 
as the great counteractive of our civilisins^ work. 
For this trouble, it is urged, we cannot be held respon- 
sible ; and it appears to be generally implied that it 
is vain to hope to remedy it. Our " beneficence," 
once more, thus consists in preserving vast hosts of 
helpless people from a worse dominion, and, in general, 
from violence, only to let them perish miserably by 
the myriad from famine. But is it really impossible 
gradually to educate Hindus to a level of prudence 
that has been reached by not very highly educated 
peasants elsewhere ? Supposing that British public 
opinion could be got to consent to the inculcation of 

v 20 



578 GENERAL 

such ideas — certainly a difficult thing to obtaiu — is it 
such a hopeless task to lead Hindus forward by means 
of sympathetic counsel^ accompanied by measures of 
fiscal reform which should prove our desire to better 
his lot, and should co-operate with whatever motive 
to betterment he is capable of feeling ? 

At least let the fiscal reform be tried before the 
hope be abandoned. An actual rise in the standard 
of comfort is usually the best general stimulus to- 
wards a restraint of the birth-rate ; and the standard 
of comfort of the Hindu tiller of the soil could be at 
almost any moment raised by substituting for a fixed 
money tax in his case either a tax adjusted annually 
in terms of the value and amount of the produce, or 
a simple share of such produce, the Government 
doing the collecting by means of a local authority, 
preferably the village community. It is vain to urge 
in objection that such a course would be financially 
disadvantageous ; there can be no permanent financial 
advantage in a system which keeps nine-tenths of a 
vast population in a state of penury, and has to make 
convulsive efforts every few years to save them from 
destruction by famine. While the mass are wretchedly 
poor and hopelessly indebted they ivill not practise 
family prudence : all experience demonstrates that 
people who can sink no lower will not, save under an 
uncommon intellectual stimulus, concern themselves 
to limit the number of offspring they bring forth to 
share their poverty. And reckless over-population is, 
as was noted twenty-five years ago by W. T. Thornton, 
the great obstacle to the regeneration of the village 
community as an administrative unit.^ A general 
development of communal proprietorship on the lines 
preserved in the Punjab was in his opinion the 
likeliest way to introduce the idea of prudential 
restraint by raising the standard of comfort, 

I "Indian F'uhlic Works," by W. T. Thornton, 1878, p. 236 fF. 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 579 

But, we shall be told, India is the last place in the 
world in which the lesson of restraint will bo learned. 
Thornton fully recognised the difficulties : — 

"In that country tlie procreation of children ranks as highly 
among religious duties as their baptism does in Europe, and 
its neglect is held to be punishable with equally awful penalties. 
AVhere to die without leaving behind a son to perform one's 
funeral obsequies is supposed to be almost equivalent to sign- 
ing a warrant of eternal self-damnation, connubial imprudence 
is naturally of small account. . . ." ^ 

And he concludes that " there can be no trust- 
worthy safeguard against over-population without a 
modification of the popular religious creed " " — an 
avowal before which, certainly, his further demand for 
a worthy system of education can hardly restore any 
confidence of hope. But however vast be the problem, 
there is no escape from it save by that way of surrender 
to evil which means the beginning of the end of empire. 
In Thornton's words, " Unless ours be a mission of 
civilisation, there is no warrant for our continued 
presence in India as rulers." ^ 

And in the face of all the difficulties — in face, above 
all, of the supreme drawback that the conception of 
social science has not yet won a footing in practical 
politics or in regulative opinion in England itself — we 
are entitled to say that even the experience of the 
disastrous and painful past has revealed endless possi- 
bilities of educational progress as against the immense 
obstacles of Hindu superstition. Kaye has borne 
record of the moral success achieved more than a 
century ago by Jonathan Duncan and Major Walker 
in beginning by sheer educative persuasion, on the basis 
of a sympathetic knowledge of Hindu tradition and 
creed, a voluntary abjuration in some districts of the 

1 "Indian Public Works," by W. T. Thornton, 1S7S, p. 247. 
2 Ibid., p. 248. 3 Ibid., p. 246. 



58o GENERAL 

practice of infanticide. Their efforts were not ade- 
quately followed up, and there were relapses ; yet after 
a generation there was a large measure of improvement, 
all secured without coercive measures, by at most 
sumptuary legislation (checking the cost of marriages) 
and the wise activity of patiently philanthropic men 
in the Company's service ; till at length by the middle 
of the century infanticide was no longer a tolerated 
Hindu practice, but was reduced to something like 
the discredit and the dimensions associated with it in 
Europe/ In fine, as it was put by Thornton, our 
failure as civilisers in India has not come of any mis- 
taken attempt to graft Western ideals on Asiatic life, 
but of our not doing a great deal more in that direction 
on scientific lines, after making a hopeful beginning. 
It is a gross psychological and sociological error to 
suppose that where prevalent religious ideas buttress 
an evil, the evil is therefore insuperable. Ever}'^ re- 
ligion has so buttressed evils ; and it is in the normal 
way of human progress that in the name of religion 
itself innovating ideas arise, Avhich gain ground in a 
religious sense and supply religious sanctions against 
religious malpractices. For his crusade against 
infanticide, Duncan drew weapons from the sacred 
books of those who had held it to be permitted by their 
religion ; even as in our own day enlightened pundits 
have found in their sacred books virtual vetoes on the 
otherwise religiously sanctioned practice of child- 
marriai^e, the most fatal of the moral maladies of 
Hindu life. The same thing could probably be done 
in regard to municipal sanitation, if native culture and 
intelligence were patiently enlisted in the work. 

What has been done in one direction may be done 
to another. There are no limits, save those of irrever- 
sible physical conditions, to the possibilities of social 

' "Administration of tlie East India Company," 2nd ed., pp. 553- 
586. 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 581 

evolution in any race that is in peaceful contact with 
others more enlightened. The Hindu does not die off 
in contact with the European as less developed races 
have done which were to(j disparate in their way of 
life and statue of thought from the more civilised 
peoples who overshadowed them. In India, on the 
contrary, it is the European who cannot reproduce his 
stock ; the land is and will remain a land of the brown- 
skinned. What the European might now conceivably 
do for them is to give more than he takes, to give the 
seeds of a higher and better life, to begin a new and 
greater era of Eastern civilisation by turning his facul- 
ties to the solution of their problem, even though he 
should thereby prepare his own withdrawal, rather than 
to the mere satisfying of his own economic cravings. 
If he chooses the former ideal he will indeed have 
done something in which his posterity may take pride ; 
for he will have enabled a backward world to live well 
Avithout his guidance, to rule itself where he had ruled it; 
if he chooses the latter, he will " lose even that which 
he hath," for there can be no durable prosperity under 
a system in which he is a mere exploiter, and his 
power will in the end pass away simply because he 
cared for nothing higher. 

V 

The problems of empire vary with latitude and 
longitude ; and wherever we rule over subject races we 
are faced by new dilemmas, each calling for all the 
wisdom we possess to solve them. Through the long 
thunderstorm of the Boer War may be felt the en- 
during presence of a native problem in South Africa 
— a problem as hard to solve as the Indian, and one 
to which vastly less rational attention has yet been 
given. It has been made use of as a catchword in 
connection with the other ; but as one who has dis- 



582 GENERAL 

passionately or deeply studied it can believe that it 
is going to be worthily grappled with on the impulses 
now active. The British Parliament which persistently 
presents empty benches to the Indian Budget is not 
going to develop in one day a zealous concern for the 
development of the Kaffir in his own interest. The 
Kaffir's lot and the Kaffir problem will be darker before 
they are bettered. Not one politician in a hundred 
has any reasoned opinion on the subject ; and of those 
who have a reasoned opinion, the majority are either 
flatly unprogressive or resignedly pessimistic. In 
South Africa British public opinion is overwhelmingly 
eofotistic as regards native claims : the one thing in 
which Boers and Outlanders were agreed was that the 
native must be " kept in his place." 

All the while, it appears to be the admission of all 
parties in South Africa that the town Kaffir is in 
general demoralised ; that he loses his primitive 
virtues of truthfulness, honesty, and manhood, and 
that he acquires the vices without the better qualities 
of his masters. It would seem to follow that, if it 
be any part of the duty of our colonial governments 
to raise or safeguard the native civilisation, that ouiiht 
to be fostered on an aufricultural and tribal basis. 
But though some colonial administrators have done 
good and generous service to native interests, those 
interests are no part of the concern of the average 
colonist; and the very persons who most emphatically 
disparage the " town Kaffii' " seem most determined to 
exploit him. They act, of course, very much in the 
spirit of the average exploiter of labour in the mother 
country ; and it would be fantastic to expect of them 
more sympathy with a different race than most 
home employers show for their own. What we are, 
entitled to say is simply this, that nowhere does the 
British Empire appear to be raising lower races col- 
lectively in the scale of civilisation, and that the 



DUTIES OF EMPIRE 583 

conventional formulas on the subject are accordingly 
in much need of revision. 

The most hopeful aspect of the matter, neverthe- 
less, is perhaps the fact that the formulas do pass 
current. They stand at least for an admission that 
empire ought to mean benefit to those dominated, and 
a capacity to take satisfaction in such beneficence. 
Much has been said of late as to benevolent British 
intentions towards the native races in the Transvaal. 
To believe in such intentions is not easy in view of 
the status accorded to the natives in Natal, who are 
practically Avithout franchise rights, and of the de- 
signs on native labour avowed by the capitalists of 
Johannesburg, whose first thought is avowedly the im- 
provement of their own financial results. In regard 
to the " compound " system, which seems likely to 
be set up at Johannesburg as at Kimberley, it is 
commonly argued that it is " the best thing for the 
native," because he can in that way earn in a year or 
two as much money as will enable him to " buy " 
at least three wives and live thereafter in idleness on 
the produce of their labour in the fields of his tribe. 
From such propaganda one turns away with no great 
hope. But if all that we have heard of philanthropic 
purposes towards the native races is to mean no better 
fruition than this, the language of imperialist aspiration 
must be more hollow than even the anti-imperialist 
can well believe. Some sincere desire to do good 
there must have been behind it, in some ininds ; and 
it is to that that we must look for a right direction of 
imperial influence in the future. Should it be finally 
lacking, there will be small room left for questioning 
as to the civilising value of the imperialist idea. 



A SKETCH OF THE IMPEETAL UNITY 
MOVEMENT 

COMMONLY KNOWN AS " IMPEI^IAL FEDERATION " 

By HERMAN W. MARCUS 

(Editor of " The British Empire Review") 

"There is not the least probability that the British Constitution 
would be hurt by the union of Great Britain with the Colonies. 
That Constitution, on the contrary, would be completed by it, and 
seems to be imperfect without it. . . . That this union, however, 
could be easily effectuated, or that difficulties — and great difficulties 
— might not occur in the execution, 1 do not pretend. I have yet 
heard of none, however, which appear insurmountable." — Adam 
Smith's " Wealth of Nations." 

It is the fate of all movements in the direction of 
political change to be seriously misvmderstood in exact 
proportion to the magnitude of their aims and to the 
comprehensive and far-reaching character of the inter- 
ests which they are likely to affect. Probably Imperial 
Federation enjoys a unique pre-eminence in this re- 
spect. There can hardly be any other proposal of the 
same importance around which so many legends have 
clustered, and upon which such avalanches of misre- 
presentation have been hurled. It is a simple jjlirase, 
consisting of an adjective and a noun substantive. 
The adjective is one which might have been expected 
to be intelligiljle to the citizens of the most famous 
Empire known to history ; whilst the idea comprised 
in the substantive is one of the coimnonplaces of the 

present day. " Federation," " alliance," " co-operation," 

584 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 585 

" association," and the like, are the terms which ex- 
press the tendency of every class and every interest 
towards concerted action, based upon the view that 
union is strength, whilst isolation is weakness. 

The British Empire being already in existence, it 
is proposed to " federate " it — that is, to reconstitute it 
to some extent upon a federal basis — this, and nothing 
more or less, is the entire mystery of " Imperial Fede- 
ration." 

The ideal of a closer and belter organised union 
between the United Kingdom and the outlying parts 
of the Empire has long occupied a prominent place in 
the aspirations of patriots and political philosophers. 
In recent years the eloquent writings of James Anthony 
Froude and Sir John Seeloy have done much to render 
it both intelligible and popular. But without any 
disparagement of eilhcn- the foresight or the actual 
services of these or of still earlier pioneers of the 
movement, it will be convenient if, for the purposes of 
the present article, the question be regarded as having 
been brought within the sphere of practical politics by 
the concrete step taken at the foundation of the Im- 
perial Federation League itself, when, at a Conference 
held in London, on 29th July 1884, the Right Hon. 
W. E. Forster, M.P., in the chair, it was unanimously 
resolved : — 

That in order to secure the permanent unity of the Empire, 
some form of Federation is essential. 

That for the purpose of influencing public opinion, both in 
the United Kingdom and the Colonies, by showing the incal- 
culable advantages which will accrue to the whole Empire from 
the adoption of such a system of organisation, a Society be 
formed of men of all parties, to advocate and support the prin- 
ciples of Federation. 

And at the adjourned Conference, held on Tuesday, 



586 GENERAL 

1 8th November 1884, the following resolutions were 
unanimously passed : — 

That a Society be now formed, to be called " The Imperial 
Federation League." 

That the object of the League be to secure by Federation 
the permanent unity of the Empire. 

That no scheme of Federation should interfere with the 
existing rights of Local Parliaments as regards local affairs. 

That any scheme of Imperial Federation should combine on 
an equitable basis the resources of the Empire for the main- 
tenance of common interests, and adequately provide for an 
organised defence of common rights. 

That the League use every constitutional means to bring 
about the object for which it is formed, and invite the support 
of men of all political parties. 

That the membership of the League be open to any British 
subject who accepts the principles of the League, and pays a 
yearly registration fee of not less than one shilling. 

That donations and subscriptions be invited for providing 
means for conducting the business of the League. 

That British subjects throughout the Empire be invited to 
become members, and to form and organise branches of the 
League, which may place their representatives on the Council. 

The foregoing is the official programme of the 
association which was constituted for the organised 
expression of the Imperial Federation idea, and its 
terms are entitled to be treated as authoritative and 
conclusive, so far as their accuracy, and the intentions 
of their authors, are concerned. But additional light 
upon the objects and policy of the League may be 
found in the written and spoken utterances of its 
leading members, and chiefly in those of its first two 
Presidents, the late Mr. W. E. Forster, and Lord Rose- 
bery. 

In an article pul)lished in The Nineteenth Century for 
February 1885, Mr. Forster defined Imperial Federa- 
tion iis " such a union of the Mother Country with her 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 587 

Colonies as will keep the realm one State in relation 
to other States. Purposely I use the word hecp, and 
not make. I do not say that we are trying by federa- 
tion to make the Empire one commonwealth in relation 
to foreign Powers, because at the present time it is one 
commonwealth." Now, one of tlic most common mis- 
conceptions regarding Imperial Federation takes the 
form of imputing to its advocates an insidious design 
to impair the virtual autonomy of the self-governing 
Colonies, which they cherish, and rightly cherish, with 
jealous care. But, even apart from the clause in the 
Constitution of the Imperial Federation League, quoted 
above, which expressly negatives such a purpose — viz., 
" that no scheme of Federation should interfere with 
the existing rights of local parliaments as regards local 
affairs " — the leaders of the Imperial Federation move- 
ment repeatedly declared that a scrupulous respect for 
the existing rights of the Colonies, and the maintenance 
of their relations with the Mother Country on the 
present basis in every material feature, save one, were 
essential conditions of their proposals. The single 
modification which they sought to introduce was, on 
the contrary, designed not to impair or to restrict, but 
to extend and complete, the constitutional rights of self- 
governing Colonies, 

A close and instructive analogy is afforded by the 
policy which has been adopted in framing a federal con- 
stitution for Australia, although the analogy, for reasons 
which will appear, requires to be applied with caution. 
In the case of the Federation of Australia, it was 
inevitable that, for the sake of union, each colony 
should surrender certain of its provincial rights. For 
instance, absolute Free-Trade will prevail throughout 
the Continent, and the right of any colony to impose 
protective duties against its neighbours (except as 
regards a temporary provision in favour of Western 
Australia) will be abandoned as long as the Common- 



588 GENERAL 

Avealth endures. Other restrictions upon local auto- 
nomy are also imposed, and yet, witli a fine insight, the 
resolutions defining the scope of the Commonwealth 
Bill declared that its object was " to enlarge the powers 
of self-government of the people of Australia." In 
other words, the abandonment of certain provincial 
rights and privileges, in themselves of no mean im- 
portance, was completely overshadowed by the larger 
citizenship, with its more majestic powers and op- 
portunities, which would pertain to the membership 
of an Australian Commonwealth. 

If this be true, as it undoubtedly is, of a federation 
of Colonies in a single continent, with how much im- 
measurably greater force must it apply to the case of a 
colony, or even of a group of federated colonies, which 
is raised from the position of a subordinate, although 
quasi-independent, State, to that of equal membership 
of a world-wide Empire ? For this, and nothing else, 
is the ultimate aim of Imperial Federation — to raise 
the Colonies to a higher plane of citizenship in the 
Empire of which they already form a part, but vnthout 
t/ie slightest derogation from their existing rights. Alike 
in this country and in the Colonies it has been found 
difficult to grasp this fundamental idea. At home, no 
doubt, conservative tendencies induce a reluctance to 
contemplate so great an innovation in constitutional 
practice as to admit partners, even of our race and 
household, and although at first probably only junior 
partners, in the supremo control of the destinies of the 
Empire. In the Colonics themselves, the evil traditions 
of Downing Street rule of half a century ago still make 
it difficult to believe that so great a privilege would 
ever be conceded by Great Britain, except in return for 
some equivalent on their part, amounting to a sacrifice ; 
and this impression has undoubtedly been strengthened 
by th(! false analogy between two systems, differing in 
kind as well as in degree, which the experience of their 



THE IMPERIAL UXITV i\I()VEMENT 589 

own efforts to accomplish Federation has tended to 
create. But it is noteworthy that, as the Dominion of 
Canada has with each succeeding year acquired a 
greater sense of security in the enjoyment of those 
enlarged powers of self-government which were con- 
ferred upon her by confederation, she has sought to 
enter into closer relations with the Mother Country, 
from a recognition not only of the existence of common 
interests, but also of the fresh advantages which are 
likely to accrue to herself from a more intimate 
alliance. It is in the belief that a similar tendency 
will be displayed by the Commonwealth of Australia, 
that the friends of Imperial Unity, rejecting the fatal 
principle — Divide et impera — as an impossible watch- 
word for the British Empire, have welcomed the union 
of the Australian Colonies. 

Let us return to the article from which we have 
already quoted. Mr. Forster, proceeding with his 
ari-ument, advanced as his main contention that the 
proper method of maintaining Imperial union was 
" by an organisation for common defence, and a joint 
foreign policy." The objection was, of course, at once 
raised whether this was necessary. Were not, it was 
asked, the existing relations, if not ideally perfect, 
satisfactory for all practical purposes ? There was no 
demand on the part of the Colonies for additional 
powers, and it would be better to wait until it arose. 
In short, the usual plea for delay was urged — quieta 
non movere. So far as this was a caution against 
attempts to force the pace, or to give so long a 
lead to public opinion as to outstrip it altogether, 
arguments of this nature were not unworth}^ of con- 
sideration. But they failed to take account of that 
aspect of the duty of statesmanship which consists in 
looking ahead, and which seeks to diminish the danger 
of even an unexpected crisis by being prepared to meet 
it. Moreover, it i^fnored some notorious storm-signals. 



590 GENERAL 

of which far-seemg men were anxious to take cog- 
nisance. Mr. Forster himself drew attention to some 
of the critical incidents of that day, caused by the 
absence of co-operation between the Imperial and the 
several Colonial Governments, such as the attempt 
of Queensland to annex New Guinea in her dissatis- 
faction with what she considered the apathy of the 
Colonial Office, and a threat on the part of New 
Zealand to take similar action in Sainoa, where the 
problem, as the result of neglect, subsequently assumed 
a dangerous form, and has ultimately reached a solution, 
by which Colonial, if not Imperial, interests have had 
to go to the wall. 

But it was Mr. Forster's successor, Lord Rosebery, 
who, as a statesman with an especial bent for questions 
affecting the foreign relations of the Empire, enforced 
this point repeatedly and with striking emphasis upon 
the mind and conscience of the nation. Speaking at 
Leeds, on i ith October 1888, he said: — 

" A great change has come over tlie whole of our foreign 
policy during the last twenty years. I think you will see a 
greater change in the next twenty years. Our foreign policy 
lias become more of a colonial policy, and is becoming every 
day more entwined with our colonial interests. Formerly our 
foreign policy was mainly an Indian policy ; it was mainly 
guided by considerations of what was best for our Indian 
Empire. Tliat brought us into many complications which we 
might otherwise have avoided, but which we felt were rightly 
faced to save so splendid a possession ; but now, owing to 
causes which I will point out to you, colonial influences must 
necessarily overshadow our foreign policy. In the first place, 
our colonial communities are rising to a pitch of power which 
makes it natural for us to listen to tliem whenever they make 
representations on tlieir own hehalf — and they do make con- 
stant representations on tlieir own behalf. In the next place, 
we find that the other Powers are beginning a career of colonial 
aggrandisement. We formerly did not have in our foreign 



THE BIPERTAL UNITY MOVEMENT 591 

affairs to trouble ourselves much with colonial questions, because 
we had a monopoly of Colonies. That monopoly has ceased ; 
but consider for a moment, as matters stand now, how largely 
our foreign policy is a colonial policy." 

Ho proceeded to illustrate his contention by re- 
ferences to current affairs in Canada, Newfoundland, 
Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, and concluded with the 
following words : — 

" I have said that foreign policy in the future will be very 
largely concerned, and is very largely concerned, with questions 
of colonial policy, but that raises the question of whether you 
wish to have a colonial policy at all. There was at one time 
in this country a demand to be free from the responsibility of 
a colonial empire. Well, I think that demand has ceased, but 
the people of this country will, at a not too distant time, have 
to make up their minds what footing they wish tlieir Colonies 
to occupy with respect to them, or whether they desire their 
Colonies to leave them altogether. It is, as I believe, absolutely 
impossible for you to maintain in the long run your present 
loose and indefinable relations to your Colonies, and preserve 
these Colonies as parts of the Empire." 

A few days later, at Edinburgh, Lord Rosebery 
propounded his own definition of Imperial Federation 
as follows : " The federation we aim at is the closest 
possible union of the various self-governing States 
ruled by the British Crown, consistently with that free 
national development which is the birthright of British 
subjects all over the world — the closest union in sym- 
pathy, in external action, and in defence ; " and he 
went on to reiterate the doctrine which he had laid 
down at Leeds : — 

" When you declare war, on whatever grouml — it may be in 
a fit of anger, under the idea of slighted honour — under any of 
these causes for which we have seen nations hurry rashly into 
war — whenever you declare war on any of these grounds, you 
do not declare war alone, but Canada declares war, Australia 



592 GENERAL 

declares war, every dependency in the Empire declares war, and 
they declare war without having an official voice in the control 
of our policy. Remember this ; you form a policy, and my 
critic says you demand that it shall be uncontrolled by your 
Colonies. But when your policy has begun to take effect, your 
Colonies may be invaded, they may be harassed, they may be 
burned, they may be plundered — all in consequence of the 
course of action in which they have had no controlling voice. 
Now, that is not a dream, that is not an idea. It is an uncom- 
monly concrete fact — both for our critics and for the Colonies. 
NoAV, gentlemen, it is rather remarkable tliat Mr. Bright, who 
is our most venerated opponent, once alluded to that argument 
this year, and took it as the text of a speech against our view. 
Mr. Bright said, speaking of Imperial Federation : ' Will the 
Colonists be willing to undertake the responsibility of entering 
into wars, the seat of which is ten thousand miles away, in 
which they have not the slightest interest, wdien they might 
not have been the least consulted as to the cause of the quarrel 
which this country was rushing into 1 ' But, gentlemen, that is 
precisely their position now ; and that is precisely what we wish 
to avert by Imperial Federation. ... I say that this state of 
things, for both sides, is anomalous, and cannot continue. On 
the one hand, you pay for everything, and that is a fool's bargain 
for you ; and on the other hand, the Colonies may be dragged 
into a war Avithout a voice in the matter, and that is a fool's 
bargain for them. Now, I believe when the Parliaments which 
exist — the numerous Parliaments which exist under the British 
Crown — when they come to see this question in all its bearings, 
will demand a substantial voice in the control of the British 
policy of the future." 

These remarkable utterances did not fail to make 
a deep impression upon the country, which was 
strengthened by a series of lectures in London and 
the provinces, delivered shortly afterwards by Dr. 
George K. Parkin, now Principal of Upper Canada 
College, Toronto, and the author of " Imperial Federa- 
tion, the Pr<jblem of National Unity," whicth is the 
acknowlf'dged text-book on the,' subject. A keen 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 593 

desire for the consolidation of Imperial Unity was 
implanted in many quarters, and the critics of the 
movement found themselves compelled to shift their 
ground. " That is all very well," they conceded, 
" but how do you propose to carry it out ? Produce 
your plan, and we will consider it." Now this was 
no new demand. From the earliest stages of the 
movement outside observers had called for a "plan," 
and the leaders had steadily declined to commit 
what they believed would be a fatal blunder. It was 
clearly foreseen that, until the ground had been care- 
fully prepared, it would be courting disaster to make 
definite proposals. Lord Rosebery himself said : " My 
plan is this — to endeavour so to influence public 
opinion at home and in the Colonies, that there 
shall come an imperious demand from the people of 
this country, both at home and abroad, that this 
federation shall be brought about." In short, there 
was no intention of playing into the hands of those 
opponents who would have welcomed an opportunity 
of diverting: attention from the broad lines of the 
movement by provoking a tedious and vexatious 
discussion on side issues. Moreover, it was recog- 
nised that the promulgation of schemes of constitu- 
tional reform is not the proper duty of private 
organisations, but belongs to statesmen entrusted 
with the actual conduct of affairs, who alone can 
say when the right moment for action has arrived, 
and are able to adapt their measures to the chang- 
ing: needs and circumstances of the time. 

But as the general principle grew in favour, the 
cry for a proposal of a definite kind not only increased 
in volume, but found a footing within the ranks of the 
Imperial Federation League, some of whose members 
had their own views as to the best methods of making 
progress, and were with difficulty restrained from 
taking independent action. Lord Rosebery, however, 
V 2 P 



594 GENERAL 

recognised that a critical moment had come, and, 
with his usual sagacity, he turned it to such good 
account, that the threatened insubordination was at 
once allayed, and the previous strategy of the leaders 
was both approved and made the starting-point of a 
new departure. 

At that time recollection was still recent of the most 
formal step which had been taken to give substance to 
the modern conception of Imperial Unity. This was 
the Imperial Conference of 1887, which had actually 
been summoned as the result of a suggestion made to 
the Imperial Government by a deputation from the 
League. Lord Rosebery recalled the success of this 
important gathering, and recommended to the Council 
of the League that the establishment of periodical con- 
ferences on similar lines should be made the immediate 
aim of the League. His proposal was received with 
enthusiasm, and was embodied in the constitution of 
the League on 14th November 1889. On the follow- 
ing day, the new policy was publicly proclaimed by 
Lord Rosebery in a remarkable speech, at the Mansion 
House, in the course of which he made the following 
declaration of policy : — 

"What was that conference? It was composed of nearly 
all the most important men available in each colony. It dis- 
cussed all the main questions which concerned the good and the 
well-being of the Empire. It brought forward recommenda- 
tions on almost all those questions. If that was not Imperial 
Federation, I don't know what is, and I have always felt since 
that day that the existence of what is called Imperial or 
National Federation depended upon the periodical contiiuiaiice 
and renewal of those conferences, and this League will have to 
keep a vigilant eye upon the Government, to see that these 
conferences are constantly and periodically renewed. It will 
have to maintain and promote the sentiment, without which 
Federation is an idle dream, and it will have to take care, as far 
as it can, that the conferences, when llicy do assemble, do not 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY AIOVEMENT 595 

separate without some substantial results. Now, iu my opinion, 
there are several necessary conditions connected with the future 
of these conferences. They must be in the first place periodi- 
cal and at stated intervals. In the next place, they must be 
composed of the best men available at the moment ; and there- 
fore the Government of this country, whatever Government it 
may be at tlie time, must send its best men to represent it at 
the Conference, and must invest these periodical congresses 
with all the authority and splendour which Government in 
this country can give. In the next place, the task of these 
gatherings Avill not be the production of statutes, but recom- 
mendations. You may say that a congress Avhich only meets to 
report and recommend has but a neutral task before it. Those 
who take that view have a very inadequate idea of what the 
utterance would be of a conference representing a quarter of the 
human race, and representing the immeasurable opulence and 
power which have been garnered up during the i)ast centuries 
of our history. If we have these conferences, and if they are 
allowed to discuss, as they must be, any topic which any party 
to them recommends, I do not fear their wanting in authority 
or in weight. I would further lay this consoling unction to the 
souls of those who have schemes in their pockets for imme- 
diately carrying out Imperial Federation. If any closer scheme 
of Federation is to come about, it can only come about tiirough 
the medium of such a conference as I have sketched out, and 
not through the medium of any private organisation ; whereas, 
on the other hand, if no closer relations come out of those con- 
ferences, and if these conferences are found to be of no avail, 
you may be perfectly certain, whatever your views may be and 
wliatever your exertions may be, that Imperial Federation in 
any form will be impossible." 

It was impossible to iiiisunderstand tlie signifi- 
cance of the new departure. The policy of Imperial 
Federation by short cuts, to several of which Lord 
Rosebery referred in his speech and declared to be 
impracticable, was emphatically repudiated, and whilst 
a definite and clearly practical proposal for accomplish- 
ing federation was put forward, its main characteristic 



596 GENERAL 

was a grand simplicity and an entire freedom from 
those compromising, because premature, details, which 
Avould almost certainly have prejudiced the acceptance 
of any ordinary " plan." Apparently, therefore, the 
League was on the point of taking a long step towards 
the attainment of its object ; and yet, by the irony of 
fate, its zenith was also the commencement of its 
decline. For the moment, however, the omens were 
favourable. Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister, con- 
sented to receive a deputation from the League to urge 
the convocation of a second conference of the self- 
governing Colonies of the Empire, and on 17 th June 
1 89 1, a deputation was introduced by Lord Brassey, in 
the absence of Lord Rosebery, who at that time was 
taking no part in public life. The Prime Minister met the 
deputation with the frank admission that it had raised 
" nothing more nor less than the future of the British 
Empire," but made the objection that " it would be an in- 
sult to summon a conference, and to have no proposition 
to make to them when they come." Such a proposition, 
he intimated, it was the duty of the League to submit. 
Although the Council could not help denuu'ring to 
the contention of the Prime Minister, who invited them, 
in effect, to abandon the policy which they had em- 
braced in November 1889, and to substitute for it 
a specific plan of federation, they found themselves 
in a dilemma, since in the event of declining the 
invitation they were certain to be confronted with a 
mere non possumus on the part of the Government. 
Accordingly they accepted the responsibility which the 
Prime Minister had declined, and undertook the task 
of framing definite proposals for accomplishing federa- 
tion. A strong committee was appointed, and in July 
1892 a report was issued, which was adopted by the 
Council on 1 6th November 1892. This report possessed 
many excellences. It was not only a lucid and con- 
sistent composition, but it contained a well-balanced and 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 597 

really practicable scheme for constituting a Council of 
Defence of the Empire, which it was proposed to submit 
to an Imperial Conference summoned ad hoc. In other 
words, it complied with Lord Salisbury's requirements ; 
but it was at the same time the virtual, if unconscious, 
negation of the Rosebery policy of three years earlier, 
which aimed not at the convocation of a specially 
summoned conference for the consideration of a specific 
proposal, but at the establishment of conferences at 
constantly recurring periods, which should be a regular 
feature of Imperial administration. To use a homely 
phrase, the Council had put all their eggs into one 
basket, and in consequence had exposed their wares 
to the risks which invariably attend that method of 
marketing. By taking such a course they appeared 
to have deliberately tempted Providence, and at no 
distant date a Nemesis overtook them. A general 
election, followed by a change of ministry, intervened ; 
and it was not until April 1893 that the League once 
more approached Her Majesty's Government. Mr. 
Gladstone, who was now Prime Minister, associated 
himself with his predecessor in recognising the im- 
portance of the issue which was being raised, and 
in addition gave his assent to the special principle 
of estal)lishiug unity in Imperial defence. But Avith 
remorseless and unanswerable logic he pointed out that 
the proposals were premature, whilst the occasion was 
inopportune ; and the League was once more referred 
back to its original work of forming and educating 
public opinion. 

It is sufficient for the purposes of the present 
article to add that seven months later the Imperial 
Federation League was dissolved on the nominal ground 
that it " had reached the limits of its effective action." 
This view was not held universally, and steps were 
shortly taken to re-establish the organisation on fresh 
lines. Meanwhile, a new conception of Imperial Federa- 



598 GENERAL 

tion was gaining ground. Its advocates began to hark 
back to tbe teaching of Lord Rosebery, that the objects 
of Imperial Federation were of infinitely greater con- 
sequence than any particular proposal for accomplishing 
them. Instead of being regarded as a more or less 
questionable method of introducing vast constitutional 
changes into the relations between the Mother Country 
and the Colonies, it was perceived that Imperial Federa- 
tion was in its essence an imperfect attempt to express 
in concise and technical language the organised effort 
after National or Imperial Unity. As an inevitable 
consequence the policy of " short cuts," which had been 
temporarily revived by the Report of the Special 
Committee of 1892, once more fell out of favour, 
and it began to be perceived that the truer policy 
was to make use of every avenue of approach towards 
the goal along which progress Avas possible, but not 
to pursue any one or more to the exclusion of the 
rest. 

This policy has been virtually embodied in the 
programme of the British Empire League, which was 
formally constituted on 30th May 1895, at a meeting 
over which Lord Avebury (tlien Sir John Lubbock, M.P.) 
presided, and which, whilst carefully avoiding the con- 
troversial phrase " Imperial Federation," has followed 
the Imperial Federation League, in proclaiming the 
permanent unity of the Empire as its primary object, 
but seeks to attain this end in a variety of ways, 
coupled with the advocacy of periodical conferences as 
the main and most potent instrument for the purpose. 
The essential resemblance between the new organisa- 
tion and the old, save in respect of the use of the 
term " Federation," is made clearly apparent if the 
Constitution of the defunct League, which has already 
been recited, is compared with that of its successor, 
which runs as follows : — 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 599 

(i.) The Association to be called "The British Einpiie 
League." 

(2.) It shall be the primary object of the League to secure 
the permanent unity of the Empire. 

(3.) The following to be among the otlier principal objects 
of the League : 

{(() To promote trade between the United Kingdom, 
the Colonies and India, and to advocate the hold- 
ing of periodical meetings of representatives from 
all parts of the Empire for the discussion of 
matters of general commercial interest, and the 
consideration of the best means of expanding the 
national trade. 

(b) To consider how far it may be possible to modify 

any laws or treaties which impede freedom of 
action in the making of reciprocal trade arrange- 
ments between the United Kingdom and the 
Colonies, or between any two or more Britisli 
Colonies or Possessions. 

(c) To promote closer intercourse between the different 

portions of the Empire by the establishment of 
cheaper and, where required, more direct steam, 
postal and telegraphic communication, preference 
to be given to routes not traversing Foreign Ter- 
ritory, 
(f/) To develop the principles on which all parts of 
the Empire may best share in its general defence ; 
endeavouring to bring into harmony public opi- 
nion at Homo and in the Colonies on this subject, 
and to devise a more perfect co-operation of the 
Military and Naval forces of the Empire with a 
special view to the due protection of tlie trade 
routes. 
{f) To assimilate, as far as local circumstances permit, 
the laws relating to copyright, patents, legitimacy 
and bankruptcy, throughout the Empire. 
{4.) The League shall use every constitutional means to 
bring about the objects for which it is established, and shall 
invite the support of men of all shades of political opinion 
throughout the Empire. 



6oo GENERAL 

(5.) The League shall advocate the establishment of peri- 
odical Conferences to deal with such questions as may appear 
ripe for consideration, on the lines of the London Conference 
of 1887 and the Ottawa Conference of 1894. 

In addition, every opportunity has been taken to 
assert the intention of the British Empire League to 
preserve the continuity of what may be called the 
" Rosebery policy " of the earlier stages of the move- 
ment. This has been done not only in its official pub- 
lications, but by the mouth of its President, the Duke 
of Devonshire, who on i8th May 1898, the occasion of 
its first annual meeting, quoted the words of Lord 
Rosebery's speech of November 1889, and added: 
" These sentiments are still the sentiments of the 
British Empire League, and among all the objects 
which we have set before us to accomplish I say that 
in our opinion the most important, the most produc- 
tive, and the most fruitful one is that of promoting in 
every way which we can the renewal of these periodical 
Conferences." 

Under these circumstances it is significant that 
the Imperial Federation League in Canada, which was 
never dissolved, has formally constituted itself a branch 
of the British Empire League, under the title of the 
British Empire League in Canada. At the same time, 
the modifications which have, as appears above, been 
introduced into its constitution, have enabled the 
British Empire League to receive the support, not 
only of many members of the older league, but of other 
warm friends of Imperial unity, who felt tactical or 
other strong objections to advocating any specific scheme 
of Imperial Federation. 

Thus, whilst there was less talk of Imperial 
Federation as such, nevertheless the ideas which it 
represented continued to spread through every quarter 
of the Empire. In Canada, in particular, it became 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 60 1 

more and more the distinctive policy of successive 
administrations to adopt measures which, whilst their 
immediate object was to advance the prosperity of the 
Dominion, aimed at the same time at drawing; closer 
the ties which bound the Colony to the Mother 
Country and her other daughter States. This twofold 
purpose has been served by the establishment of great 
lines of railway, steamship, and cable communication, 
which have not only contributed to the social and com- 
mercial development of the country, besides facilitating 
intercourse with other portions of the Empire, but are 
available for Imperial purposes in time of war. It was, 
for example, almost exclusively on Imperial grounds 
that Canada joined the easterly Australasian Colonies in 
urging upon the Imperial Government the construction 
of the Pacific cable ; and it was her resolute persistence 
through many years which has at last brought the 
commencement of that great enterprise within actual 
view. Similarly it was due to the daring initiative 
of the present Postmaster-General of Canada that the 
Postal Conference was held in 1898, which resulted in 
the adoption of penny postage through the greater 
portion of the Empire — soon, doubtless, to become 
general. Large sums have also been expended upon 
Canadian defence, including the maintenance of a force 
of militia, whose recent feats of bravery in South 
Africa have revealed to the world the existence of 
a body of troops of unsuspected efficiency, with which 
the enemies of the Empire will hereafter be compelled 
to reckon. Nor is Canada's capacity for contributing 
to the fighting force of the Empire limited to military 
power alone. An important scheme is under con- 
sideration for training the hardy fishermen of her 
coasts for service in the Royal Naval Reserve, and this 
is regarded by many persons as a contribution of even 
greater value than a money vote towards the cost of 
the naval establishment would be. 



6o2 GENERAL 

So far, indeed, as co-operation in naval defence 
is concerned, the Australasian Colonies are in advance 
of the Dominion. The agreement under which they 
contribute an annual sum towards the mamtenance 
of the Australasian squadron is of several years stand- 
ing, whilst the formation of an Australian Naval 
Reserve has lately been discussed by the local com- 
mandants, and now stands over for consideration by 
the Federal Government. As regards joint military 
action, the despatch of New South Wales troops in 
1885 for service in the Soudan, which it was declared 
would never be repeated, has been eclipsed by the 
despatch of upwards of thirteen thousand men from the 
Australian Colonies and New Zealand to South Africa, 
where their performances in the field, side by side with 
the Imperial troops, have evoked the warmest admira- 
tion of British generals. Nor has the spirit which led to 
so striking a demonstration of Imperial unity exhausted 
itself by this single effort. Mr. Barton, the Federal 
Prime Minister, shortly after entering office, took an 
opportunity of stating that his policy would be " for 
the Australian military forces to render the Common- 
wealth secure, and to be ready to help the motherland 
if required" — a pledge which has been fulfilled by the 
provision contained in the Defence Bill subsequently 
introduced by Sir John Forrest, that the permanent 
forces shall be liable for active service anywhere out- 
side the Commonwealth in case of emergency. And 
this explicit avowal of a determination to make 
conmion cause with the Mother Country in the defence 
of the Empire has been re-echoed by leading repre- 
sentatives of the Opposition. New Zealand, moreover, 
not content with furnishing contingents more than 
three thousand strong, has adopted an elaborate scheme 
of colonial defence, which provides {inte7' alia) for an 
Imperial Reserve force of good riders and shots for 
Imperial or Colonial service within defined limits, to be 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 603 

maintained at the joint cost of the Imperial and 
Colonial Governments. This portion of the scheme 
was suggested for adoption by Australia, and the whole 
has been submitted to the Imperial Government for 
approval. 

Nor have the South African Colonies fallen behind 
those of Canada and Australasia in seeking to partici- 
pate in the defence of the Empire. During a portion 
of the recent conflict it was their unhappy lot to 
furnish a battle-ground, and by flocking to arms the 
colonists recognised that for them the Avar was primarily 
one of self-defence. But Cape Colony had previously 
set an entirely new precedent by voting an annual 
grant of ;^3 0,000 towards the cost of the navy, whilst 
Natal had made a similar contribution in the form of 
steam coal. 

It was necessary to recite in some detail the 
remarkable steps which have thus been taken by 
the self-governing Colonies in the direction of naval 
and military co-operation, because the course of events 
has conflrmed the view consistently held by many 
strong advocates of Imperial Unity, that union for 
defence offered the most hopeful nicans of introducing 
the federal principle into the organisation of the 
Empire. The war in South Africa, by bringing into 
the field an Imperial army for the first time in our 
history, has undoubtedly given to the Empire a sense 
of union and solidarity such as it has not known 
before, and one which it is generally felt must be 
preserved and developed by such measures as, without 
detracting from colonial autonomy, will introduce order 
and system into a state of things where, at present, 
these qualities are to seek. An additional advantage 
of no slight importance will accrue from the oppor- 
tunity which federation for defence will aflbrd of 
associating the native Indian clement with the repre- 
sentatives of the white races comprised in the Empire. 



6o4 GENERAL 

The impossibility of applying the representative prin- 
ciple to India in connection with any form of purely 
political federation has been a stumbling-block to 
many; but in the formation of a union for defence 
this difficulty would be avoided, whilst fitting recog- 
nition would be made of the magnificent support 
extended to the Imperial Government by the princes 
of India during the recent war.i 

But although the tide is setting strongly in the 
direction of a Kriegsverein, as the most feasible method 
of federating the Empire in the first instance, the 
alternative, but not antagonistic, scheme of a Zollverein, 
or Customs Union, which has a numerous body of 
supporters, especially among the Imperialists of Greater 
Britain, makes a strong claim upon our attention. 
Many proposals have been mooted, of which the best 
known are Mr. Jan Hofmeyer's suggestion, made at the 
Colonial Conference of 1887, for differential duties 
throughout the Empire, the proceeds of which were to 
be devoted to Imperial defence ; and that adumbrated, 
although not personally advocated, by Mr. Chamber- 
lain in 1896, and referred to by him in a recent 
debate in Parliament, when he declared, not for the 
first time, that no kind of fiscal arrangement Avith the 
Colonies would be viewed with the slightest favour in 
this country which did not provide for Free-Trade 
within the whole Empire. Inasnuich as this sug- 
gestion is the only official, or quasi-official, overture 
on the subject addressed by any responsible British 

1 The following very satisfactory announcement has recently been 
made: "The assent of the King-Emperor has been received to a 
scheme submitted to His Majesty's Government by the Viceroy, with 
the unanimous support of the Council, for the provision of military 
employment and rank for a limited number of cadets of the princely 
or aristocratic families of India. . . . The scheme has been honoured 
with the cordial ai)i)n)val of the Kini^-Emperor, who has desired it to 
be made known that he has welcomed the opportunity of testifying 
his confidence in the loyalty of his Indian feudatories and subjects in 
the opening year of his reign." 



THK IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 605 

statesman to the Colonics, and since it has been dis- 
torted, both in this conntry and in Canada, for pohtical 
purposes, it is of importance to state precisely what 
attitude has been adopted with regard to it by promi- 
nent politicians. The statement frequently made in 
the English press, that Sir Charles Tupper had 
" adopted Mr. Chamberlain's Zollverein," is a palpable 
perversion of the truth. For although Sir Charles 
and other Conservative speakers, when addressing 
Canadian audiences, have sought to identify them- 
selves with Mr. Chamberlain, it is quite certain that 
they have never at any time assented to the essential 
conditions laid down by the latter, but have confined 
themselves to offering a redtcction of customs duties 
in return for a preference in the British market. It 
was on this platform that they appealed to the con- 
stituencies in November 1900, when they met with 
an overwhelming defeat. On the other hand, Sir 
Wilfrid Laurier — who, after inducing the Im))crial 
Government to denounce the treaties with Belgium 
and the Zollverein containing the " most favoured 
nation " clause, which precluded the Colonies from 
giving better terras in their markets to the United 
Kingdom than to foreign nations coming under the 
clause in question, has made use of his newly acquired 
freedom to grant a British preference without asking 
for any return — has expressed his approval, in principle, 
of Mr. Chamberlain's so-called proposal, which he 
hopes may at some future date come into operation ; 
but at the same time declares it to be outside the 
range of practical politics, both in view of the great 
disparity between the volumes of Britain's colonial and 
foreign trade, and also because Canada is unable to 
dispense with the revenue at present derived from 
the customs duties which it is suggested should be 
abandoned. So much for Canada; but neither has 
the suggestion of a Zollverein, on this only admis- 



6o6 GENERAL 

sible basis, met with encouragement in the United 
Kino-dom. It was denounced at Manchester on 
1st November 1897 by the former leader of the 
Imperial Federation movement, Lord Rosebery, in 
a speech which was regarded as having administered 
the coup de grdce ; whilst the Duke of Devonshire, 
some remarks of whose, at Liverpool in June of the 
same year, on the need of colonial expansion as a 
means of providing new markets, have been ingeni- 
ously misrepresented as an invitation to some of the 
colonial Premiers who were present to discuss pro- 
posals for a mutual preference, has publicly repudiated 
any such construction of his meaning. On the other 
hand, no politician of eminence has spoken in a 
contrary sense. 

Such being the reception which the suggested 
Zollverein has encountered in the two countries 
where alone it has been seriously discussed, it would 
be an act of supererogation to overload the pages 
of the present article with a statement of the argu- 
ments advanced on either side of the question. 
Wliilst it would be rash to predict what response this 
country might make beneath the influence of the 
wave of feeling which would inevitably be aroused 
by a united offer on the part of the self-governing 
Colonies to abandon all import duties on British 
goods in return for a preference in the home market, 
the contingency appears to be so remote that for 
years to come the question of the commercial federa- 
tion of the Empire, except on such lines as have 
already been initiated by the present Government 
of Canada, and which in all probability will shortly 
be followed by the Governments of the other self- 
governing Colonies, is unlikely to enicrge from the 
region of academic discussion. 

To quit this digression, although no formal an- 
nouncement of t.hcir intentions has been niiulc l)y the 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 607 

Imperial Government, it is a safe assumption that at 
no distant date steps will be taken to submit to the 
self-governing Colonies proposals for establishing some 
form of systematic co-operation between the forces of 
the various portions of the Einpire. To this end, it will 
become necessary to convene a Conference of Imperial 
and Colonial representatives — a course which has al- 
ready been urged upon the Government by the British 
Empire League in Canada, as well as in this country, and 
Avhich there is good reason for believing will actually be 
taken on the occasion of the King's coronation — and 
the proposal is suggestive in the highest degree. If the 
history of the important steps towards the consolidation 
of the Empire, which, as mentioned in previous pages, 
have already been taken, are carefully reviewed, it will 
be found that nearly the Avhole of them either sprang 
direct from the Colonial Conferences of 1887 and 
1897, or were instigated by those gatherings. So 
sensible indeed were the Colonial Premiers in 1897 of 
the beneficial effect of the meetings held in that year 
at the Colonial Office, to which some of them had 
originally come with avowed misgivings, that, although 
they passed by a large majority (Mr. Seddon of New 
Zealand and Sir Edward Braddon of Tasmania alone 
dissenting) a resolution to the effect that " the Prime 
Ministers here assembled are of opinion that the 
present political relations between the United Kingdom 
and the self-governing Colonies are generally satis- 
factory under the existing condition of things," they 
nevertheless added that " meanwhile, the Premiers are 
of opinion that it would be desirable to hold periodical 
Conferences of representatives of the Colonies and 
Great Britain, for the discussion of matters of common 
interest." 

Care must be taken to apprehend the precise bear- 
ing of these resolutions. The Premiers did not 
negative a proposal in favour of Imperial Federation : 



6o8 GENERAL 

they merely adopted by a majority what was in effect 
the previous question. At the same time, they gave 
their unanimous assent to a proposal which opened the 
door to Imperial Federation in the future. This was 
the view taken of their action by Mr. Seddon, who saAv 
in it the first beginnings of an Advisory Council, which 
he has never ceased to advocate, whilst Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier, who at the Conference voted against any 
immediate scheme of Federation, shortly afterwards 
predicted that he would live to see the Colonies repre- 
sented at Westminster. More recently he has declared 
in reply to Canadian criticism upon the constitutional 
aspects of the despatch of contingents to South Africa, 
that Canada, under existing political conditions, re- 
mains entirely unpledged as to future action ; but that, 
if Great Britain would have it otherwise, she must 
" call us to her Councils." Mr. Seddon's specific pro- 
posal of an Advisory Council has been favourably 
received in Canada, and — most significant of all — the 
leading organs of the Australian press, which have 
hitherto been very shy of Imperial Federation in any 
shape or form, have begun to use the language of 
approval. " It is impossible for the Colonies," writes 
the Sydney Daily Telegraph, for example, " after the 
attitude which they have just assumed in Imperial 
affairs, to remain content with their present voiceless 
position in regard to them." And such expressions 
of opinion could be multiplied without difficulty.^ 

In short, there can be little doubt that, whilst 
representation in the Imperial Parliament is not 
desired by the Colonics, for reasons which were 
stated by Sir Charles Tupper during the recent 
electoral campaign in Canada, without any substantial 

' A remarkable article in advocacy of an Advisory Council by the 
Hon. Isaac A. Isaacs, K.C., then Attorney-General for Victoria, and 
now a leading member of the Federal House of Representatives, 
appeared in the Melbourne Af/c of I4tli January I90t, and was reprinted 
in the British Empire Review for the following April. 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 609 

dissent on the part of his opponents, and in almost 
identical terms by Mr. Chamberlain during a debate in 
the House of Commons upon a motion by Mr. Hedder- 
wick, there is a strong feeling in favour of some 
clear and recognised arrangement under which repre- 
sentatives of the Colonies should enjoy the right of 
consultation with Her Majesty's ministers upon matters 
of Imperial concern by which their interests are likely 
to be affected. It is not the purpose of this article to 
propound any specific scheme ; but whatever plan may 
be adopted can scarcely fail to embody the principles 
laid down by Mr. Forster in 1885, and as a practical 
proposal offering a starting-point towards the goal of 
National Unity, the establishment of periodical Con- 
ferences of the Empire, as advocated by the Presidents 
of the Imperial Federation League and the British 
Empire League in succession, and formally endorsed by 
the Premiers of the self-governing Colonies in Confer- 
ence, still holds the field. Indeed, the vindication of 
Lord Rosebcry's prescience and sagacity by subsequent 
events is one of the most notable incidents of modern 
political history. 

Brief allusion may be made here to one aspect of 
the plan of proceeding by means of periodical con- 
ferences to an Advisory or Consultative Council, which 
constitutes a strong recommendation. By this means 
the iiecessity of determining the vexed question of the 
channel by which colonial contributions to Imperial 
defence are to be made, would not arise at the outset. 
Hitherto this has formed a serious stumblin^j- block, 
owing to the disposition of a certain school of fcdera- 
tionists to regard it as an indispensable preliminary to 
the admission of colonial representatives to any council 
of the Empire, whilst public opinion in the Colonies 
has been stubbornly opposed to the acceptance of 
obligations which would bo imposed by any other body 
than their oAvn legislatures. That this state of feelinsf, 

V 2 Q 



6io GENERAL 

which has been the mark for much ungenerous and mis- 
chievous comment, was not inspired by any lack of loyalty 
or by any disposition to evade responsibility, has been 
conclusively sho^vn by the sacrifices voluntarily made 
by the self-governing Colonies during the South African 
war. But the dislike to the creation of what is termed 
" a cash nexus " — except in the single instance of the 
naval contribution made by Cape Colony, which has 
been adversely criticised in Canada and Australia — is 
deep-rooted, and requires to be handled with tact, 
patience, and consideration. If, however, an immediate 
decision be waived, it should not greatly tax the 
resources of statesmanship to devise some compromise 
that will be mutually satisfactory ; and in that case it 
is more than probable that the difficulty will eventually 
find its own solution through a gradual process of har- 
monious co-operation for common ends. 

What then is the inevitable conclusion ? The rapid 
progress already made by the movement towards 
National or Imperial Unity has clearly shown the 
futility of seeking to restrict its development by 
definitions or to confine its activity within the limits 
of a stereotyped formula. Writers of learning and 
ability have been at great pains to show that no such 
union of communities as would be comprised in a 
federation of the British Empire has been seen since 
the world began, and they have argued accordingly 
that it could only terminate in a catastrophe. Lot 
their premises be conceded ; it is none the less evident 
that their conclusion is wrong, and has been reached 
by a process of hasty and ill-considered generalisation. 
It is an easy matter to cite every type of federation 
known to history, and then to demonstrate how widely 
the conditions of each differ from those of the British 
Empire. Critics of this order appear to lose sight 
of that distinctive characteristic which Dr. Parkin 
so well described when lie wrote that " the glory of 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 6ii 

the British poHtical system is often said to he in llie 
fact that it is a growth ; that it has adapted itself, and 
is capable of continuous adaptation, to the necessities 
of national development." If there is no precedent 
for such a political union of a Mother Country with 
her Daughter States as it is proposed to establish, the 
genius of the race will at the right time be found 
ready and competent to create one. All the elaborate 
armoury of reasoning which has been furbished up in 
order to prove that the conditions of a federation are 
incapable of adaptation to the present case may be 
seen to be little better than an incentive to a logo- 
machy, or war about phrases, if the word " Federation " 
be dropped, and " Confederation " be used in its place. 
The distinction is a very real one. " Federation " is 
the term which accurately describes the centralised 
form of government which has lately been established 
in Australia : but " Confederation " would denote a 
much looser and more elastic form of union — one 
ratlier in the nature of an alliance of independent or 
quasi-independent States, over which the control of 
the central authority would be exercised as rarely as 
possible, and then for Imperial purposes alone. An 
exact analogy doubtless does not exist ; but that is of 
the less moment, since none is required. 

As we stand in the first year of the Twentieth 
Century and contemplate the immense Hood of national 
feelino^ which has been the unforeseen emanation of 
the lamentable conflict still raging in portions of South 
Africa, it is profitable to retlect how far we have 
travelled sin(;e the beginning of the decade which saw 
the inauguration of the Imperial Federation movement 
by Mr. Forster, its adoption by Lord Rosebcry, and its 
gradual merge in a movement of even wider scope. 
In the face of apathy, ridicule, and malicious misrepre- 
sentation, but aided by the zealous co-operation of 
many fellow workers, including such men as the late 



6i2 GENERAL 

Sir John A. Macdonald, the late D' Alton McCarthy, 
Q.C., M.P., and Colonel George T, Denison, in Canada, 
these eminent statesmen effected a virtual transforma- 
tion of national sentiment throughout the Empire ; 
and despite the untoward events of 1893, the sacred 
flame was passed forward undiminished into the keep- 
ing of other but, as has been shown, not less loyal 
hands. As for the statesman who now presides over 
the Colonial Office, it is true that he bore no part in 
the earlier period of propagandism and illumination. 
But during the last lustrum he has performed with 
skill and success the task of focussing and stimulating 
the new forces which had sprung into life, and to-day 
he is placed by the accidents of political fortune in the 
possession of an opportunity to imjDrove or mar such 
as was vouchsafed to none of his predecessors. What 
will he do with it ? 

Speaking at the Dominion Day banquet on ist 
July 1 90 1, Mr. Chamberlain expressly referred to the 
movement for closer union, and observed : " The 
movement is one which must come from the Colonies, 
and must not. be unduly pressed upon them by us. 
But if they desire this closer connection ; if they are 
willing to assist us, not merely with their arms but also 
with their counsel and their advice, I believe that 
there is nothing that the people of this country will 
more readily welcome. No man can foresee the 
future ; but it is possible that in the time to come 
those who now help us may need our help ; and if 
that period does arrive, unless I mistake the temper 
and the spirit of my countrymen, that help will be 
given in no grudging spirit and no stinted measure." 

This important utterance has given rise to nuich 
discussion, in which Canadians have not unnaturally 
taken a foremost part, and Mr. Cliamberlain has been 
sharply criticised by some of the younger spirits for his 
attempt to impose the responsibility of initiating pro- 



THE IMPERIAL UNITY MOVEMENT 613 

posals upon the Colonies. It is noteworthy, however, 
that the older men occupying responsible positions, in- 
cluding, for instance, such different types as the Hon. 
David Mills, K.C., Dominion Minister of Justice, and 
the Hon. George W. Ross, Premier of Ontario, both of 
whom are prominent among Canadian Imperialists, 
concur in thinking that the time for the creation of 
a permanent Imperial constitution has not yet come, 
and so far have justified the caution of the Colonial 
Secretary. At the same time, it may be confidently 
assumed that the gathering of Colonial Prime Ministers 
in London in the summer of 1902 will not terminate 
without a serious effort being made to bring the prob- 
lem nearer to solution, and meanwhile much can 
undoubtedly be done to assist the cause by frank and 
ample discussion of its conditions. 



APPENDIX 

DUTIES OF EMPIRE 

Note to page 583. 

The discrepancies indicated above have been remedied, to a 
considerable extent, by the action of the respective local Legis- 
latures in adopting or imitating improvements made in English 
Statute Law from time to time. In some of the British 
Dominions certain important English Statutes have been made 
to apply in their entirety. In others their provisions have been 
embodied in local laws. And in others again it has been 
enacted that all disputes on such and such matters arising for 
determination there, shall be decided according to the law in 
force in England for the time being, and all the Statutes 
applicable to those disputes are thus imported at one stroke. 
By these several means the provisions of the English Statutes 
consolidating and codifying branches of English Law (e.g. those 
relating to Arbitration, Bankruptcy, Bills of Exchange, Partner- 
ship, and Sale of Goods) have come to be more or less generally 
in force throughout the Empire. 

Statute Law in the British Dominions seems, on the whole, 
to be in a more satisfactory state than it is in the Mother 
Country. The legislative machinery Avorks more rapidly and 
smoothly, and, in addition to adopting the codifying statutes 
passed in England, a good deal of progress has been made 
locally in the direction of independent codification. India has 
long had its Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure, and its 
Penal Code, and many of the Colonies are in the same position ; 
whilst other branches of law also have been codified in different 
places. At the same time, the facility with which Indian and 
Colonial laws are passed, and the varied and peculiar conditions 
prevalent in the British Dominions, have led to much legisla- 
tion that is quite unprecedented in England, Many curious and 

615 



6i6 APPENDIX 

instructive experiments in legislation are thus being tried ; and 
in this way even more marked points of divergence between the 
laws of different portions of the Empire are created than those 
which are due to difference in origin or in date of settlement. 
Of these points of divergence the one which has perhaps re- 
ceiA^ed most attention of recent years relates to marriage with a 
deceased wife's sister, but it is by no means the most important 
or significant. Putting other considerations aside and looking 
at the matter merely in its legal aspect, it comes to this, as 
Lord Davey recently pointed out {Journal of Comparative 
Legislation, 1900, p. 201), that a marriage of this description 
between persons domiciled in a Colony where it is legal is 
recognised in England for all practical purposes. The wife 
holds an unassailable position, and the children are legitimate. 
All personal property of the husband and father passes to them 
on his death in the usual way. The only difficulty that arises 
is with regard to titles of honour and real property in England, 
for it is said that these do not descend t<> the children of such 
a marriage, and that the widow cannot claim dower out of the 
real estate in this country ; but the real estate can, of course, 
be left to them by will. 

A few examples of recent Colonial legislation, taken at 
haphazard, may be interesting : — - 

In Victoria and South Australia, the attachment of work- 
men's wages is prohibited. In Western Australia, workmen's 
wages are a first charge on money due to the contractor who 
employs them ; while workmen in Manitoba have a lien for 
their wages on the work tliey are engaged upon. Cultivators 
of the soil in Tasmania can obtain loans from the Government 
on easy terms. In .South Australia, children born out of wed- 
lock are legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their parents. 
In Ceylon, Government servants drawing less than a certain 
salary are absolutely protected against all actions for money 
lent, or for money due on promissory notes, &c. In New 
Zealand, women may be enrolled as barristers and solicitors. 
In several Colonies, perjury may be summarily punished as 
contempt of Court ; and various Colonies have stringent laws 
against pauper and criminal immigrants. 

The more we study the fascinating subject, of which only 
a rough and im]ierfect outline could be attempted here, the 



APPENDIX 617 

more clearly do we see how the vitality, vigour, and variety of 
the British Empire are mirrored in its legislation ; and how 
that legislation (thougli often faulty) is always inspired by a 
noble spirit of liberty, and is everywhere honestly intended to 
give effect to the maxim " Salus populi supi-ema lex." 



Isle of Man. The early history of the Isle of Man has been 
associated with all parts of the United Kingdom. As early as 
517, the nephew of King Arthur, Maelgwyn, King of North 
Wales, expelled the Scots and annexed the island to "Wales ; 
it was later rescued for Scotland. In 630, Edwin, King of 
Northumbria, conquered it; then came the Welsh again ; later, 
in the ninth century, a body of malcontents from Norway 
settled in the western isles of Scotland, and their prosperity 
drew upon them the anger of their king, Harold Harfagra, 
who, in 870, sent a great expedition, conquered the Orkney 
and the Shetland, the Western Isles, and Man, and for three 
centuries the Norwegian rule remained intact. In 1266, 
Magnus VI. of Norway ceded Man to Alexander III. of 
Scotland, and upon the subjugation of the island in 1270 
Alexander, in token of his conquest, substituted for the "ships 
in full sail" the "three legs" for the national emblem. 
Upon his accession Henry IV. seized the Isle of Man, 
and in 1406 bestowed it on the Stanley family. The 
second Earl of Derby relinquished the title of King of Man, as 
he preferred " being a great lord to being a petty king." In 
1703, James, the loth earl, conferred on his Manx subjects 
the act of settlement (the Manx Magna Charta), by which 
lessees of estates were finally established in their possession. 
He died in 1736 without male issue, and the sovereignty of 
the island went to James, Duke of Atholl, on whose death the 
island descended to his daughter Charlotte, from whom, in 
1765, Parliament purchased the sovereignty for jQ']o,ooo, and 
in 1827, for the sum of ;£^i'],i^'] , all the remaining interests 
in the island. 

The Isle of Man is not bound by Acts of Parliament, unless 
specially mentioned. It is governed by an independent legis- 
lature called the Tynwald, consisting of a Governor and Council 



6i8 APPENDIX 

(composed of bishop, attorney-general, and two deemsters or 
judges, clerk of the rolls, water-bailifi', archdeacon, and vicar- 
general) and the House of Keys. There are twenty-four Keys 
or representatives elected for seven years by the six steadings 
or local subdivisions and the four municipalities, by household 
suffrage, including women voters. Bills, after having passed 
both Houses, are signed by a legal quorum of each House and 
then sent up for the Royal Assent. After receiving the Royal 
Assent, it does not become law until promulgated in the 
English and Manx languages on Tynwald Hill. On the 
promulgation taking place a certificate thereof is signed by the 
Governor and the Speaker of the House of Keys. The island 
has its own laws and two supreme judges, called deemsters. 
Common law courts are held in the six steadings, and appeals 
may be made from their decision, successively to the House of 
Keys, the Governor, and the Sovereign or Council. 

The Channel Islands. In 933 these islands were made 
over by Rodolph of Brittany to William of Normandy, the son 
of RoUo. It is now the only portion of the Dukedom of Nor- 
mandy belonging to England ; or, to put it from the native 
point of view, the Channel Islands, as representing the Duke- 
dom of Normandy, annexed England in 1066. After the 
Norman Conquest its allegiance alternated between the English 
crown and Norman coronet; but in the reign of John the 
future of the islands was decided by their attachment to the 
English crown, in spite of the separation of the Duchy of 
Normandy. In 1343 there was a descent of the French on 
Guernsey, and the governor was beaten and Castle Cornet 
besieged. In 1380, Pius IV. issued a bull of anathema against 
all who molested the island. It was formerly registered as in 
lirittany in 1384, and in France in 1386. It thus acquired 
the right of neutrality, which it retained till 1689. In the 
Civil War Jersey stood for Charles, antl Guernsey for the 
Commons; the former maintained its loyalty till 1651. In 
1767, an unsucce.'isful attempt was made to introduce the 
English custom - house system. The Channel Islands are 
administered according to their own laws and customs, each by 
a Lieutenant-Governor with judicial and otlier functionaries, 
and a States Assem>)ly, mainly elective. 

The hospitable shores of the Channel Islands have over 



APPENDIX 619 

and over again been sought by fugitives, as a haven of safety, 
from Poland, Tlungary, France, in 1830, 1848, 185 1, and by 
the Communists in 187 i, and other places. 

Seaweed cutting takes place twice a year. That which is 
cut in February is used for manure, and that cut in June for 
fuel, in the summer cutting, the first month is restricted to 
the poor alone, or those who have no cattle. 

In Jersey the legislative body consists of the States, where 
all legislation is first initiated, adopted, and transmitted to the 
King in Council. 

There are fifty-five members of the States, twelve of whom 
are jurats (who act as magistrates in the Royal Courts), twelve 
rectors, twelve constables, and fourteen deputies — one for each 
of the eleven country parishes and three for St. Helier — and 
five crown offices. The Royal Court is the judicial body, and 
composed of twelve jurats or judges elected by the people by 
ballot. It is divided into two tribunals, " Le Nombre In- 
f^rieur," composed of bailiff, Avho presides, and two jurats ; 
and the Court of Appeal, or " Le Nombre Sup^rieur " or 
"Corps de Cour," consisting of seven jurats, presided over 
by the bailifi". An appeal to the King in Council is the 
dernier ressort. 

There are in St. Helier six Centerners (hon. police) holding 
office for three years. The county parish also elects two Cen- 
terners, and the district (or Vingtaines of the parishes) elect 
constables' officers (lion, police inferior to the Centerners) and 
Vingterners for the same period. The constables' officers and 
Vingterners are only elected by ballot when the vote is 
demanded. 

In Guernsey the States is composed of the bailiff or chief- 
justice (president), twelve jurats, ten rectors, two law-officers, 
fifteen delegates appointed by the Parish Douzaines or Councils, 
and nine deputies elected by all the ratepayers of the island. 
The Royal Court is composed of the bailiff and twelve jurats, 
who act as judges and jury in criminal and civil affairs. There 
is appeal in civil cases from a section of the Court, or " Cour 
Ordinaire," to the Full Court, so that the jurats who have 
already decided on a case sit in appeal upon it. The final 
appeal is to the Privy Council. 

Herm and Jethou are considered as parts of Guernsey, and 



620 APPENDIX 

offences are tried in that island. Herm is held under the 
Crown by Prince Bliicher von Wahlstadt, and Jethou is held 
under the Crown by Henry Austin Lee, C.B. 

In Sark. — The Court of Sark consists of the Seneschal 
or Judge, whose right of punishment is limited to a fine of 
three livres tournois (4s. id.), or three days' imprisonment, 
More severe cases are sent to Guernsey. Sark is one of tlie 
smallest States of Europe with a separate legislature, and the 
only one of the small feudal territories or half sovereign which 
remain unimpaired. 

The Court of Alderney is altogether subordinate to that 
of Guernsey, but it has a Court composed of President, called 
the judge, two crown officers, the procureur, and the controle, 
whose office is perennially vacant ; the greffier or registrar, the 
prevote or sheriff, and the sargeant. The jurisdiction is con- 
fined to offences punished by a month's imprisonment, or a 
fine of not more than 5 s. 3d. More serious cases are dealt 
with in Guernsey. 

French is the official language of the local legislative States 
and of the Royal Court, but the old Norman dialect is still 
spoken by the people. Tlie islands are exempt from Imperial 
taxation. Laws passed by the States are subject to the control 
of the Privy Council, the islands not being responsible to the 
Colonial Office. The two Lieutenant-Governors are appointed 
by the Crown, who have a deliberative voice in the Assembly 
and Royal Courts, but no vote. The Lieutenant-Governor in 
Jersey has no voice in the Royal Court although he has in the 
States. He sits as a member of the Licensing Assembly, where 
he has a vote. The bailiffs, the rectors, and the law-officer are 
also appointed by the Crown. The jurats in Jersey are elected 
ijy the ratepayers for life ; the constables or mayors are chosen 
from the difFerent parishes by the same electors ; the office is 
held for three years. In Guernsey the election is vested in 
the States of Election, consisting of bailiff, jurats, ten rectors, 
and douzeniers, and the nine deputies. The douzeniers are 
a sort of parochial council, consisting of twelve or more men 
elected by the ratepayers. In early time the government 
of tlie islands was committed to one person, the ballivers 
or l)ailiff. Military service is compulsory, and the militia 
is under the Lieutenant-Governors. The laws are founded on 



APPENDIX 621 

those of the Duchy of Normandy. The two political parties 
are the Laurel and the Rose. 

Gibraltar remained under the Moor until the fifteenth 
century, when it became a part of the Spanish kingdom of 
Grenada. It was captured by the British forces under Sir 
George Rooke, 24th July 1704, and was ceded by the Treaty 
of Utrecht in 17 13. It was made a free port in 1704, the 
only customs dues being levied upon alcoholic liquors. 
Gibraltar is a Crown Colony. The Governor, who is com- 
mander of the garrison, exercises all executive and legislative 
power ; there is no council. The management of the water- 
supply, &c., is in the hands of a nominated body called the 
Sanitary Commission. It is an important naval station, the 
whole area forming one large citadel. 

Malta. The Islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino are 
mentioned at a very early date. From time immemorial it 
has been a place of importance to whatever race wisheil to 
hold the highway of the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians 
settled there in the fourteenth or fifteenth century b.c. 
During the Punic "Wars the islands were held by the 
Carthaginians and Romans, ultimately by the latter. Paul 
was shipwrecked here during the Roman occupation. 

Upon the decline of the Empire Malta fell into the hands 
of the Goths, afterwards the Saracens, who were expelled by 
Count Roger the Norman. It was under the dominion of 
the house of Aragon from 1190 to 1530, when it was granted 
to the Order of the Knights of St. John, by whom it was held 
for more than two centuries. On 12th July 1798 the Grand 
Master Hompesch capitulated to Napoleon Bonaparte, who 
dispersed the Order. The Maltese, however, rose against the 
French, and, aided by the English fleet, compelled the French 
to capitulate, and the government was placed in the hands 
of Great Britain in 1800. The Treaty of Amiens in 1802 
provided that the islands should be restored to the Order 
of St. John ; this bcnng repugnant to the Maltese, war broke 
out again, and the islands remained in the hands of the 
English till 18 14, when they were secured to Great Britain 
by the Treaty of Paris. The government is administered 
by a Governor and an Executive Council, consisting of ten 
members, besides the president and the clerk. Legislation 



622 APPENDIX 

is carried on by means of a partly constituted council of 
government. It consists of six official, and fourteen elective 
members. Nine represent Malta, one Gozo, and four certain 
classes of the population. There is a property qualification 
for members and electors. The Legislative Council is elected 
for three years, and the governor is ex officio president, with 
the power of veto. 

Cyprus. Prior to the division of the Roman Empire, Cyprus 
had been colonised by Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Greeks. 
Cyprus formed part of the Eastern Empire, and was governed 
by lieutenants of the Byzantian emperors until 1191, when it 
was taken by Eichard I. of England. In 1192, the island was 
sold to the Templars, and upon their inability to govern it was 
given to Guy de Lusignan, and it remained in this family until 
1489. The republic of Venice ruled the island until 157 1, 
when it was captured by the Turks. Cyprus remained under 
the Sultans of Constantinople until 1878, with the exception of 
the period 1832 to 1840, when it was held by the Pasha of 
Egypt. By the Treaty of Berlin, 1878, Cyprus was placed 
under British administration. The Sublime Porte receives 
^92,800 annually, and nominally exercises dominion over the 
island. In the event of Russia restoring to Turkey Kars and 
the other conquests in Armenia, Great Britain must restore 
Cyprus. The administration is invested in the High Com- 
missioner. He is assisted by an Executive Council The 
Legislative Council consists of eighteen members — six official, 
and twelve elected for five years. Three are elected by 
Mohammedans and nine by non-Mohammedans. The voters 
are male Ottomans, or British subjects, or foreigners of twenty- 
one years of age who have resided five years and are payers of 
any of the taxes known as " Verghid." Municipal Councils 
exi.sts in the principal towns, elected practically by all resident 
householders or ratepayers. The Moslems form about twenty- 
three per cent, of the population, the rest belong to the Greek 
Church. 

St. Helena. When discovered by the Portuguese commander, 
Juan de Nova Castella, on 21st May 1502 (St. Helena's Day), 
the island was uninhabited. I'ho secret of its discovery was 
well kept until 1588, when it was visited by Captain Cavendish. 
A churcli was Imilt but no jiermancnt settlement made. The 



APPENDIX 623 

Dutch held it from 1645 to 1650. In 1651, the East India 
Company took possession of the island, and a charter for its 
administration was granted in 1661. The Dutch seized it 
both in 1665 and 1673, but in each case were driven out after a 
few montlis. Charles II. gave the East India Company a new 
charter in 1673, and it remained in their hands until it was 
brought under the direct government of the Crown in April 
1834. The government is administered by a Governor, aided 
by an Executive Council. There is no Legislative Council. The 
Governor alone makes ordinances ; power is reserved to legislate 
by order of his Majesty in Council. 

Tristan da Cunha. A small group of islands in the Atlantic, 
discovered in 1506. During the imprisonment of Napoleon I. 
it was garrisoned. There are also the Gough Islands, Inacces- 
sible Island, and Nightingale Islands ; the population consists 
mainly of the families of shipwrecked sailors and wives from 
St. Helena, numbering sixty-four in 1897. An annual visit is 
paid to the islands by one of his INIajesty's ships. 

BRITISH EMPIRE. 

The oversea possessions of England may be said to have 
commenced with the Norman Conquest. Jn course of time the 
conquerors were absorbed by the conquered, and when, in 
1204, Normandy was conquered by Philip Augustus and re- 
united to France (it was again taken by Henry V. in 14 18, 
and held until 1450), the only part of the conquering Dukedom 
that remained to England was the Channel Islands, which 
remain? to this day. The foreign dominion of Henry II. in- 
cluded Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, Poitou, Limousin, 
Auvergne, Saintonge, Guienne, ami Gascony ; he was ruler of 
a third of modern France, with a frontier at the Pyrenees. 
Most of these places were relinquished by Henry III. Calais 
was taken by J^dward III. in 1347, and it was lield until 1558. 
Henry V. claimed the throne of France, and his son Henry VI. 
was crowned at Paris, but during his reign the English power 
declined. In 1658 Dunkirk was handed over to tlie English, 
who held it ingloriously until 1744, and here ended the last 
of the English possessions in France. In 1801 the Lilies were 
no longer quartered with the Leopards in tlie arms of England ; 



624 APPENDIX 

this absurdity was kept up for three hundred and fifty years after 
the English rule in France was plainly over. William III. ruled 
Holland and England for fourteen years. From 17 14 to 1837 
the electorate of Hanover was united to the English Crown, 
when the Duke of Cumberland, upon the accession of Queen 
Victoria, became King of Hanover. Heligoland was captured 
from Denmark in 1807, and ceded to Germany in 1890. 

Great Britain as an island Power has made the English a 
race of sailors. Henry VII., only five years after Columbus 
started on his first voyage, sent the Venetian, Cabot, on 
his first voyage, to be followed later by De Prado, Hore, 
Willoughby, Chancellor, Frobisher, Davis, Hawkins, Drake, 
Cavendish, Gilbert, Kaleigh, &c., who made England a mari- 
time Power, and her sailors men who feared neither the frozen 
seas or the tropics. In 1541 the fisheries of Newfoundland 
are specified in an Act of Parliament. Tlie English East India 
Company was incorpoi-ated in 1600, two years before the 
Dutch, and four years before the Frencli companies. At the 
end of the seventeenth century England possessed only four 
factories in India — Madras, 1639 ; Bombay, 1661 ; Fort St. 
David, 1691 ; Calcutta, 1696. 

The first Virginian settlement dates from 1607. On 13th 
May the emigrants settled at Jamestown, named after their 
own king. On 6th September 1620, the Mayfloiver sailed 
for New England, and then commenced the founding of the 
United States, the greatest colony ever planted by a single 
people. Various companies were formed — the Virginia, the 
Plymouth, the Massachusetts, and the Hudson Bay. The 
Gambia and Royal African Company came later ; thus early, 
English colonisation went hand in hand with trade. From 1700 
to 1814 the English dependencies were mainly won by the sword; 
it was the time of England's greatest gain and greatest loss. 
From 1763 to 1814 was roughly a record of war between Eng- 
land and France. When England lost the United States in 
1782, she set herself to colonise Australia, which was com- 
menced in 1788. During the present century colonisation has 
taken the form of expansion of existing settlements in Canada 
and Australia peacefully, in India and South Africa by wars. 
England has held Tangiers from 1661 to 1684 ; Minorca. 17 13 
to 1756, 1763 to 1782, and T798 to 1802; Corsica, 1794 to 



APPENDIX 625 

1797; Sicily, 1811 to 1814; Ionian Islands, 1809, 1815, to 
1863 ; Ciua9ao, 1800 to 1802, 1807 to 1814; Philippines and 
Cuba from 1762 to 1763 ; Java, 181 1 to 1814. 

The greater portion of the Colonial Empire has accrued 
within comparatively recent times, though the first attempts 
at Colonial settlement, that of Sir Humphrey Gilbert in New- 
foundland, was made as early as 1583. At the end of the 
seventeenth century the only possessions were — the New 
England States, St. Helena, two slave stations at the Gambia 
and Gold Coast, the Bermudas, Barbados, Jamaica, and some 
minor West Indian Islands, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, 
Prince Edward Island, and India. With the loss of the 
United States of America began a great increase in colonis- 
ing energy, and the additions to the Empire during the reign 
of Queen Victoria have been enormous. Since 1870 the 
Imperial troops have been gradually withdrawn from the 
self-governing Colonies, and now, with the exception of the 
garrison of the naval station at Halifax (Nova Scotia), and 
the Cape, the land defence of these Colonies rest entirely on 
tlieir local forces. 

J)uring 1890 enormous additions were made to the Empire 
in Africa, as a result of the arrangements with Germany, 
France, and Portugal for the delimitations of their respective 
possessions and spheres of influence in that continent, and we 
now actually possess, or have the indisputable right to acquire, 
nearly 2,500,000 square miles out of the total 11,700,000 
square miles which Africa contains. A Protectorate was pro- 
claimed over Amatongaland, now part of Natal, in 1895. 
Between 1895 and 1898 large tracts of territory within the 
British sphere in Africa were occupied. In 1898 Wei-hai-wei 
was obtained on lease from China, as well as an extension of 
British Kowloon. In 1899, by an arrangement with Germany, 
certain of the Solomon Islands Avere transferred to the British 
sphere of interest. The Orange River Colony and the Trans- 
vaal were annexed in 1900. In the same year Tonga, in the 
Western Pacific, came under British protection, and the 
Cook Islands, Savage Island, and other small islands were 

annexed. 

Including India, the Empire now extends over 11,000,000 
square miles, or ninety-one times the area of the Mother 

V 2 R 



626 APPENDIX 

Country. The area of the Colonial Empire alone is more 
than eighty times that of the United Kingdom, but it has a 
population, if we exclude that of the vast territory of the 
Niger and Oil Rivers, of only some 24,000,000, as compared 
with the 40,000,000 at home. 

In the self-governing Colonies complete provision has been 
made not only for elementary education, but also for secondary 
and higher instruction. In all of them primary instruction 
is compulsory, and in Canada, Victoria, and New Zealand also 
free. Extensive provision has also been made for secondary 
and technical education and higher education, provided for by 
the establishment of chartered and amply endowed universities 
empowered to grant degrees. 

The vast extent of territory over which is spread the 
population of the large self-governing Colonies, has led to the 
development of very complete systems of local government by 
elected urban and rural boards entrusted with the management of 
local affairs, and with the usual rating powers. In the Crown 
Colonies, on the other hand, the government is centralised. 

The India and Colonial Offices are the two metropolitan 
governing bodies for the British Empire, and regulate all its 
parts, except the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, which 
are under the King in Council, and Egypt, Zanzibar, Uganda, 
Central and East Africa, Socotra and Somali Coast Protectorate, 
which are dealt with by the Foreign Office. 

The first separate organisation in this country for the control 
and administration of Colonial affairs was a committee of the 
Privy Council, appointed by Order in Council 4th July 1 660, "for 
the Planta9ons." On ist December 1660, a separate "Council 
of Foreign Plimtations " was created by letters patent. In 
1672 it included the council for trade and war known as the 
" Council of Trade and Plantations." It was suppressed in 
1677, and its functions transferred to the Privy Council. It was 
reconstituted in 1695 ami continued until 1782, when it con- 
sisted of eight members who received ^^looo each per annum. 
The affairs of India were placed under its charge in 1748, and 
remained so until taken over by the Hoard of Control in 1784. 
From 1768 the Colonial affairs were dealt with by a Secretary 
of State. The office of secretary to the sovereign dates from 
at least the reign of Henry III. There was one secretary down 



APPENDIX 627 

to 1539, when a second was appointed. From 1708 to 1748 
a third existed who tlealt exclusively with Scotlaml. 

In 1768 a Secretary of State for the American or Colonial 
Department was appointed in addition to the other two, and 
the Commission to the Council of Trade and Plantation con- 
tinued to run as before. But the Council and the new Secre- 
tary of State Department were abolished in 1782 on the loss of 
the United States, In 1782 the Privy Council took over the 
duties, and the Home Department dealt with its requirement. 
In I 784 a Committee for Trade and Foreign Plantations suc- 
ceeded the Home Department. In 1793 the Secretary for War 
was also nominally Secretary of State for the Colonies, and in 
1801 the War and Colonial Depaitinents were united, and the 
Committee for Trade and Foreign Plantations became the Poard 
of Trade. In 1854 the Secretary of State for the Colonies was 
appointed. The business of the Colonial Office is now conducteil 
by the Secretary of State for the Colonies and five private 
secretaries, a Parliamentary Under Secretary and Private Secre- 
tary, a Permanent Under Secretary and Private Secretary, four 
Assistant Under Secretaries, Legal Assistant, and clerical staif 
recruited by competitive examination. The departments are 
divided into North American and Australasian, West Indian, 
Eastern, South African, West African, General, and Financial 
and Accounts. 

The Crown agents for the Colonies act as commercial and 
linancial agents in Great Britain for each of the Colonial 
Governments who do not possess agents general. In 1833 
each Colony api)ointed its own agent in London, but these, 
with certain exceptions, were consolidated into one office. Those 
Colonies wliich possess agents general are Canada, New South 
Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Aus- 
tralia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Cape, and Natal. There is an 
Emigrants Information Office, which supplies information to 
intending emigiants. 

In the British Empire there are forty-three distinct and in- 
dependent governments and some scattered dependencies under 
the protection of the King. 

Of these forty-three ^ — twenty-three are Crown Colonies in 

1 Excluding the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies. 



62 8 APPENDIX 

"which the Crown has the entire control of legislation, and the 
administration is under the control of the Home Government. 

Seventeen with Legislative Council nominated by the Crown 
— British New Guinea, Cejdon, Falklands, Fiji, Gambia, Gold 
Coast, Grenada, Hong Kong, Lagos, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Trinidad, Tobago, Turk's Islands, 
British Honduras. 

Six with no Legislative Council — Gibraltar, Labuan, St. 
Helena, Northern and Southern Nigeria, Basutoland. 

Nine Colonies possess representative institutions but not 
responsible government, the Home Government retaining the 
control of public officers — British Guiana, Malta, Mauritius, 
Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, Leeward Island. 
Cyprus is not a British possession, but comes under the class. 

Eleven Colonies have elected Assemblies and responsible 
Governments, and the Home Government has no control over 
any public officer except the governor — Canada, Newfoundland, 
New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, 
West Australia, Tasmania,^ New Zealand, Cape, Natal. 

In addition there are vast territories controlled by the 
British North Borneo Company and the British South African 
Company. Ascension is administered by the Admiralty ; Aden, 
Perim, the Laccadive, Nicobar, and Andaman Islands are under 
the control of the Secretary of State for India. 

The Act of 1858 transferred the Government of India from 
the East India Company to the Crown. Under the Company 
the Governor-General had been an Indian autocrat only re- 
sponsible to the Court of Directors, and they to the Shareholders 
and the Sovereign. The Act of 1858 substituted a Secretary 
of State for the Court of Directors, the Court of Proprietors, 
and the I>oard of Control. The Secretary of State for India is 
a Cabinet Minister, and his Council was, until recently, ap- 
pointed for life ; now members are appointed for ten years, and 
may be reappointed for another five. The Viceroy or Governor- 
General is appointed by the Crown for five years ; his Council 
consists of an Executive Council of live members, and the 
Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief ; it meets at short 



' The .six Australiau States form the Australian Cumuionwealth 
uudei' a Governor. 



APPENDIX 629 

intervals to discuss general jjolicy. The Legislative Council 
has the same members, and certain others selected by the 
Governor-General from Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, together 
with nominated members representative of non-official natives 
and European communities ; the official additional members 
must not exceed in number the non-official. The number of 
nominated members must not be more than sixteen or less 
than twenty. The meetings are public. 

There is no Patent Act for the British Empire such as 
exists in the United States and Germany, covering the Mother 
Country and her Colonies. The Phiglish patent covers Great 
Britain and Ireland and the Isle of Man only — the Channel 
Islands even are not included. A special patent is required 
for Canada, anotlier for India, another for Ceylon ; in all about 
thirty-five patents must be taken out to cover the British 
Empire. Application for Colonial Patents must be made to 
the Government of the Colony in which protection is desired. 

The International Copyright, agreed to at the Bern Con- 
vention, covers Great Britain and the Colonies, Germany, 
Belgium, Japan, Spain, France, Hayti, Italy, Monaco, Luxem- 
burg, Norway, Switzerland, and Tunis, and all the colonies 
attached to any of these States. The International Copy- 
right covers the privileges enjoyed by the native author in 
the several States. Translations can only be made with the 
sanction of the authoi-, but, after ten years, should there be no 
translation, unauthorised translations may be made, the trans- 
lation must be published in any country other than the place 
of origin. Other countries, upon notice to the Bureau, may 
join the Convention, while those who are already signatories 
may leave after a year's notice. England has a treaty with 
Austria whicli practically gives the same privilege as that 
enjoyed under the Bern Convention. In the United States 
copyright can be obtained by simultaneous publication, but 
the work must be set up in the United States. The Americans 
by English registration gain also the protection of the Bern 
Convention. His Majesty's Government has undertaken to 
bring in a bill to consolidate the law of Copyright. 

Weiglits, Measures, and Coinage. — H. J. Chaney. Through- 
out the British Empire uniformity of weight and measure is 
maintained by law. In practice material standards of weights 



630 APPENDIX 

and measures are used, the accuracy of which is verified by 
comparison with the primary and metric standards in the 
custody of the Board of Trade. The laws of Australia, Canada, 
South Africa, and other Colonies and Dependencies are, with 
respect to the use of weights and measures for trade purposes, 
identical in principle with the laws of the United Kingdom 
(Weights and Measures Acts, 1878 and 1889). In details as 
to local inspection and stamping ; — for instance, as to the 
amount of errors tolerated on commercial weights, &c. ; — the 
legal requirements vary in Colonies from those of the United 
Kingdom. 

The accuracy of all weights and measures, whether re- 
quired for use as standards for authorities administering the 
government of a country, or for manufacturing and scientific 
purposes, or for ordinary trade use, is verified by comparison 
with and derivation from the parent or national standards of 
the Ya7'd and Pound and Metre and Kilogram, kept at the 
Standards Department, Old Palace Yard, Westminster. 

It has always been the duty of the State, in every civilised 
country, to provide and maintain standards by which the 
public weights are regulated, a duty also always recognised 
with regard to the coinage ; the Standard Trial Plates of gold 
and silver are, for instance, also kept at the Standards 
Department, and are used annually at the Trial of the Pyx 
(formerly kept at the Pyx Chapel, Westminster Abbey) in 
testing the current coins of the realm issued by the Royal 
Mint and the branch Mints of Australia, India, and Canada. 

The two systems of weights and measures legally in use 
in the British Empire are therefore the Imperial and Metric 
systems. The former was legalised in 1824, and it includes 
a number of denominations of ancient weights and measures, 
some Roman, Saxon, Arabic, Norman, &c., and a perplexing 
variety of local and customary trade weights and measures, 
binary, decimal, and duodecimal series. The metric weights 
and measures were fir.st legally permitted for use in retail trade 
in the United Kingdom in 1897, but the system was originally 
introduced by the National Assembly of France in 1789, and 
subsequently adopted as a national system in Europe. This 
system has been followed in this country for many years in 
matters relating to chemistry, physics, and manufacture. 



APPENDIX 631 

In India the British yard and pound are the standards for 
official purposes, but the ancient native weights, &c., are 
followed for trade purposes. In Russia, as well as in the 
United States, the standards have been derived from, and are 
verified by those of, Great Britain. Thus the work of the 
standards department is not only national, but is also of an 
international character. 



FOREIGN COLONIAL POSSESSIONS 

SPAIN. 

The earliest of the moderns in colonising were the Spaniards 
and the Portuguese, the Spaniards taking the west, the Portu- 
guese the east, and a Papal bull, issued in 1493, drew a line 
between them. The Portuguese were the first on the field, 
working down the west coast of Africa. Columbus for Spain 
discovered America five years before Vasco da Gania led his 
countrymen to India round the Cape of Good Hope. Spain 
commenced with islands ; the Canaries are the oldest Spanish 
colony. The Spanish dominion was by conquest, not by com- 
mercial settlement. 

In the eyes of the Spaniards, trade consisted of importing 
gold and silver from America to Spain. 

By relinquishing Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Sulu 
Islands, and Guam to the United States in 1898, and the re- 
maining Ladrone and Marianne Islands, with Caroline and 
Pelew Islands, to Germany in 1899, the Colonial possessions of 
Spain have been reduced to Rio <le Ora and Adrar, which are 
under the Governor of the Canary Islands, with a sub-governor 
resident at Rio de Ora. Ifni near Cape Nun. The island of 
Fernando Po and Annohon in the Gulf of Guinea, and Gorisco, 
Elohey, and San Juan off the French Congo. 

In 1 89 1 Spain relinquished her claim to Corisco Bay, re- 
tainintr, however, Cape San Juan. In 1900 the Spanish Pro- 
tectorate was recognised over the coast east of Gulf Mederine, 
east of Paris, and south by the Muni River. Spanish pro- 
tection is recognised over districts between Capes Bogador and 
Blanco. 

The Canary Islands, supposed to be the Beatorum or 

Fortunate Islands of the ancients, were conquered by ]>ethen- 

couit in 1402 and annexed to Spain at the end of the fifteenth 

century. They now form a S2>anisli province. Fernando Po 

63a 



APPENDIX 633 

was discovered in the fifteenth century hy the noble Portuguese 
FernSo de Pao. In 1827, the British Baptists established the 
settlement of Clarence Town at the north-east end of the island. 
They were bought out by the Spaniards in 1858. 

In Morocco there are several " Presidios," or military 
posts : Ifri, Tetuau, Ceuta, and the coast towns of (iomora, 
Alhucemas, Meletta, and the Zafifarin Inlands. Ceuta, taken 
by the Portuguese in 141 5, has belonged to Spain since 1640. 
It is the chief of the Spanish presidios on the African coast. 



PORTUGAL. 

The colonies of Portugal, though not continuous with her 
own European territory, began near it, and the Asiatic and 
American dominions grew out of her African possessions, 
which was • the continuation of the growth of her own 
peninsula. Ceuta was taken in 141 5 by John, King of 
Portugal; it has belonged to Spain since 1640. The great 
Portuguese Empire in the East was built up within a few 
years. Albuquerque established the seat of government in 
the island of Goa, and in the sixteenth century the Portuguese 
power extended over the Avest and east coasts of Africa. De 
Nora discovered Ascension and St. Helena ; Tristan da Cunha, 
the island named after him, and Madagascar. Mascarenhas 
discovered Bourbon in 1505, and gave his name to the island, 
the same name being afterwards extended to Mauritius — later 
called Mauritius, and Rodriguez. The whole of the shores of 
India were practically in Portuguese hands. 

They discovered Borneo, tlie Celebes, New Guinea, and 
Australia ; opened trade with China and Japan, and took 
possession of Formosa. Brazil was perhaps their most per- 
manent work, which was discovered in 1500 ; the Portuguese 
were traders, but they brought their riches to I>isbon only, and 
left it to the Dutch to distribute; thus the Dutch acquired 
their carrying trade 

The present cc^lonial possessions are : — 

The Azores and Madeira, which are an integral part of 
Portugal. The inhabitants of the Azores are a mixture of 
Portuguese and negroes with traces of Flemings, descended 
from a colony introduced by Isabella of Burgundy in 1466. 



634 APPENDIX 

It was discovered early in the fifteenth century, as was also 
Madeira. 

The Cape Verde Islands, acquired in 1456, off the cape of 
that name in Senegambia, consists of St. Antonio, St. Nicolas, 
Fogo, Santiago, Boavista Sal, and some smaller islands. These 
are administered by a Governor. 

Portuguese Guinea, on the coast of Senegambia, includes 
the adjoining Archipelago of Bijagoz, with the island of 
Bolama, acquired in 1885. 

The islands of St. Thomas and Principe, in the Gulf of 
Guinea, acquired in 1879, constitute a province under a 
Governor. St. Thomas was discovered by the Portuguese in 
1470. 

The territories of Landana and Cahenda are between the 
French Congo and the Free State. 

Angola, with a coast-line of 1000 miles, is separated from 
the French Congo by Convention of 1886, Congo Free State 
of 1 89 1, British South Africa of 189 1, and German South- 
West Africa of 1886. It is divided into five provinces : 
Congo, Loanda, Beiiguella, Mossamedes, and Lunda. 

Portuguese East Africa is divided into three districts — 
Mozambique, Zambezia, and Louren90 Marques, to which must 
be added the district of Inhambane, formed upon the failure of 
the company of that name and Gaza. The port of Mozambique 
is leased to the Mozambique Company, who also administer 
Manica and Sofala territories under a Royal Charter for fifty 
years from 1891. The Nyasa Company, with a Royal Charter, 
administer the region between Rovuma, Lake Nyasa, and Lurio. 
There is also a Zambezia Company and Mozambique Sugar 
Company. Mozambiqvie was constituted by a decree in 1891 
as the State of East Africa (Estado dAfrica Oriental). The 
limit of Portuguese East Africa was arranged with Great 
Britain in 1891, and Germany in 1886 and 1890. Louren90 
Marques was founded as a factory by the Portuguese in 1544 ; 
gold was proclaimed in the district on ist September 1890. 

Goa on the Malabar coast was founded by Albuquerque in 
1510. Nova or New Goa or Panjim was founded in 1765, is 
the present capital of Portuguese India. 

Damiio, north of Bombay. Diti, a small island west of 
Dumao, province of Goa, since 1538. 



APPENDIX 635 

Macao in China is situated on an island of that name, and 
forms with two small adjacent islands, Taipa and Coloaiie, a 
province. The city is divided into two wards, one inhahited 
by Chinese and the other ])y non-Chinese ; each has an 
administrator. 

Portuguese Timor consists of the eastern portion of the 
island of that name in the Malay Archipelago, with the 
neighbouring isle of Pulo Cambing ; this island was divided 
by treaty of 1859 between Portugal and Holland. 

HOLLAND. 

The rise of the Dutch dates from their great East India 
Company, incorporated in 1602. By 1661 they drove their 
Portuguese rivals out of the Indian seas, they took Mauritius and 
St. Helena, planted a colony at the Cape, established factories 
on the shores of the Persian Gulf at Ispahan, along the Malabar 
and Coroniaiidel coast of India, in Bengal, in Burmah, and 
Cochin-China ; expelled the Portuguese from Ceylon, Malacca, 
and Formosa, and killed their tradu with China and Japan, and in 
1619 founded Batavia in Java ; they also traded with Australia, 
Tasmania, and New Zealand. Hudson was sent to discover a 
new passage, and in 1609 sailed up the Hudson, named after 
him. In 162 i the Dutch West India Company was incorpo- 
rateil. Their failure in America was due to the superior 
strength of their rivals, the English. The keynote of the Dutch 
colonisation was trade. Their character was formed by having 
been the chief carriers of Europe, and though they supported 
the Reformed religion, they subordinated religion to trade. 
The monopolies of the Latin people were Crown monopolies ; 
with the Dutch, trade was entrusted to chartered companies. 
Many of the Dutch colonies were lost during the Napoleonic 
wars, when Holland was under French influence. The present 
colonial possessions of the Netherlands are situated in the East 
and West Indies. 

The Dutch Ead Indies date from 1602, when they created 
the East India Company ; after its dissolution in 1798 it was 
governed by the mother country. It consists of Java, Madura, 
Sumatra, Borneo, Rian-Lingga Archipelago, Banca, Billiton, 
Celebes, Molucca Archipelago, Sunda Island, and part of New 



636 APPENDIX 

Guinea. In Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and other islands the 
Dutch sovereignty is merely nominal. 

Java, the most important of the colonial possessions of the 
Netherlands (Madura, an adjacent island, is administratively 
associated with Java), was formerly administrated on the 
"Culture System" established by General Johannes Graaf 
Van den Bosch in 1832. It was based on the obligatory labour 
of natives; this was abolished in 1870. Two divisions, Sura- 
karta and Jokjakarta, are ruled by dependant princes. The 
greater part of the soil belongs to the Colonial Government; 
since 1870 large estates have been let to individuals and 
private companies. The Dutch settled in Java in 161 o, but 
have only ruled the entire island since 1830. The English 
held Java from i8ii to 1877. 

Sumatra, mentioned by Ptolemy, was visited by Marco 
Polo in 1292. In the sixteenth century the Portuguese 
formed settlements of the island, which were soon destroyed. 
The French traveller, Parmentier, visited it in 1529, and the 
Dutch navigator Houtman in 1599. In 16 16 the Dutch 
founded a factory at Jambi, and in 1622 made a treaty with 
the Sultan of Palembang. It is an outpost of the Dutch 
East Indies, and divided for administrative purposes into eight 
divisions. 

Dutch Borneo embraces 72 per cent, of the area of the 
island. The Dutch made a permanent settlement at Banjer- 
masin in 1733. Since 1814 they have gradually made 
themselves masters of the greater part of the island. James 
Brooke, in 1838-41, put down the Malay pirates, and founded 
the State of Sarawak. Brunei, the last of the free sovereign 
States, was declared a British Protectorate in 1888. The 
extreme north was obtained by the British North Borneo 
Company in 1881. 

Since 1852, when shortly after the discovery of tin, 
Billiton has formed a separate residency. 

The Moluccas or Spice Islands are divided between the 
two Dutch residences of Ternati and Amboina. 

The Dutch East Indies is administered by a Governor- 
General, assiste<l by a council of five members, which is of a 
legislative and advisory character, the executive authority is in 
the hands of the Governor. 



APPENDIX 637 

The Dutch West Indies. By the peace of Breda, in 1667, 
between England and the United Xetherland, Surinam or Dutcli 
Guiana was assured to the Netherlands in exchange for the 
colony of New Netherlands. Since then the latter has been 
in the hands of England, but was returned in 18 16. The 
colony of Cura9ao consists of the islands of Curasao, Bonaire, 
Aruba, St. Martin (Soutli ])art), St. Eustache, Saba. 

The administration and executive authority of Surinam is 
in the hands of a Governor and Council, partly elective. 

Curasao is governed by a Governor and nominated council. 
Cura9ao was discovered in 1499 by Ojeda ; it lias l)een a 
dependency of Holland since 1632. Bondaire is tlie most 
easterly of the Dutch West Indies. The south portion of 
St. Martin belongs to Holland, the north and west to France. 



FRANCE. 

The colonies and dependencies of France, including Algeria 
and Tunis, are estimated at about 3,740,000 square miles, with 
a population of 56,000,000. The administration is controlled 
by the Ministry of the Colonies, which was organised as a 
separate department in 1894. The older colonies have also 
direct representation in the French legislature ; Reunion, 
Martinique, and Guadeloupe each sending a senator and two 
deputies ; French India one senator and one deputy ; Senegal, 
Guiana, and Cochin-China one deputy each, while most of the 
other colonies are represented on the " Conseil Superieur des 
Colonies." This council consists of senators and deputies of 
colonies, delegates, officials, and experts. Few of the colonies 
have a revenue sufficient for the cost of administration. 

France, like Spain, sought empire rather than trade, and 
she took finally the place of Spain, while England took that of 
Holland. Her first colonies were in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
1534, and two Huguenot settlements in Brazil and Florida, in 
1558 and 1562 respectively. In 1604 Port Royal was founded, 
and in 1608 Quebec. French colonists settled in the West 
Indies in 1635, and about that date in Cayenne and Senegal 
River in N.-W. Africa. In 1604 the French East India 
Company was formed. Her first possession in the Eastern 
seas was Bourbon (Ri^union), which was annexed in 1649, 



638 APPENDIX 

but some years before, attempts were made in Madagascar. 
The first settlement in India was a trading agency at Surat, 
established in 1668, and Pondicherry, in 1674. In the 
eighteenth century the French claimed nearly the whole of 
North America, and nearly conquered India. The reason of her 
failure was due in a measure to attempting too much, for 
while fighting her neighbours at home she lost her depen- 
dencies abroad. The French Government also interfered with 
the Trading Companies. There were six distinct French East 
India Companies incorporated between 1604 and 1719, and the 
policy of the Court was often opposed to the interest of the 
nation. In religion the French also made fatal mistakes. 
The early work of colonisation was done by the Huguenots, 
but they were subsequently excluded from the French colonies. 
In 1627 Eichelieu incorporated the company of one hundred 
associates to carry on the colonisation of Canada, and one of 
the terms of the Charter was that no Huguenot should be 
allowed to settle there. 

The present colonies are — 

Algeria, which is under a Governor-General nominated by 
the President of the Republic. It sends one senator and two 
deputies to the National Assembly. The country, until 1830, 
•was a nest of slave-trading corsairs, ruled by deys, when their 
power was broken by France, who became actual masters of the 
country in 1847. I^ 1^7^ Civil Government was established. 
The French Chambers alone have the right of legislating for 
Algeria. 

Tunis was ruled by a Bey under the Sultan of Turkey until 
1 88 1, when the incursions of the Kabyle tribes into Algeria 
brought about the French occupation. " This occupation will 
cease when the Frencli and Tunisian authorities recognise by 
common accord the power of the local Government to maintain 
order." Nominally under the Bey, but Tunis is really under a 
Frencli Resident. The Government is carried on under the 
direction of Uie Frencli Foreign r)f}ice. 

French West Africa, whicli takes in the whole of the Sahara 
and the State of Wadai, is placed under a Governor-General, 
and includes — 

Sener/al, which returns one deputy to the French Pailia- 
ment. It was acquired in 1637, and is administered by a Civil 



APPENDIX 639 

Governor. It is the oldest of the Frencli colonies ; Norman 
navigators touched here as early as 1364. 

The French Soudan was formed in 1880, and comprises — 

The hinterland of the Senegal and Guinea Colonies. Area, 
50,000 square miles ; population (estimated), 300,000. The 
people belong, in the most part, to the Peneth and Mandiiigo 
tribes of negroes, and are in part Moslems and part fetish 
worshippers. Principal products — Ground nuts, gums, india- 
rubber, and timber. 

By a convention between Great Britain and France, the 
former recognised the right of France to all the territory west 
of the Nile basin. 

French Guinea was acquired in 1843. It is administered 
by a Governor. A series of voyages to the coast of Guinea 
were made on behalf of merchants of Dieppe from 1364 
onwards, and a settlement was made in 1383 at La Mine, 
since known by the Portuguese name of Elmina. 

Ivory Coast. France asserted her right here in 1843, and 
occupied the coast in 1883. It is administered by a Governor. 

Dahomey and Dependencies. The French obtained a 
footing on the coast in 1851, and gradually extended her 
power until, in 1894, the whole of the kingdom of Dahomey 
was formally annexed. The establishment in the Gulf of 
Benin consisted of a distinct colony, under the name of 
Dahomey and dependencies. It was formed of the kingdom 
of Porto Novo, Dahomey, and the republic Minatis in 1899, 
and placed under the Governor of French West Africa. 
Dahomey was annexed in 1894. 

French Somaliland. In 1896 the territories of Obock, the 
protectorates of Tajourah and the Danakils country were 
united under the protectorate of Somaliland. The port of 
Obock was acquired in 1855, but not occupied until 1881. 
Sagallo was ceded to France in 1883, Tajurah in 1884, Ambado 
in 1888. Great Britain had claims on the islands of Masha and 
Flat, but ceded them to France in 1887. In 1888 a port was 
created at Jibulil, now the seat of government. The colony is 
administered by a Governor. In the Red Sea, France also 
claims 340 miles north of Obock, the Bay of Adulis. 

French Congo. By decrees 1891 the French establishments 
of Gaboon, Ogowe and Congo took the name of French Congo. 



640 APPENDIX 

The territory is administered by a Commissioner-General. 
French acquisition on the Congo began on the Gaboon River 
in 1 84 1. Savorgnan de Brazza extended the territory in 1884 
over the vast area to the Congo. It was still further enlarged 
in 1887. Libreville was founded in 1849. Cape Lopez was 
gained in 1862. The frontier towards the Congo Free State 
was settled by the Conventions of 1885 and 1887 ; towards 
Kamerun on December 1885; towards the Portuguese posses- 
sion in 1886; and towards the Nile by the Convention with 
Great Britain in 1899. By the Franco-German agreement of 
February 1896 the region to the east of the Shari, which 
includes Bagirmi, was reserved to the French sphere of influence. 
In 1897 a treaty was made with the Sultan of Bagirmi for the 
appointment of a French Resident at Massenia. 

Madagascar and Dependencies is administered by a Gover- 
nor-General. Diego-Suarey, Nossi B^, and Ste. Maire were in 
1896 attached to the administration of Madagascar. France 
has laid claim to Madagascar since 1642, when a concession of 
the island was granted to a trading company by the French 
king. A station was planted here in 1662 under the protection 
of Richelieu. In 1883 a regular conquest was commenced, 
which failed at first, but eventually converted an absolute 
monarcliy into a French Protectorate. In 1885 a French 
Resident-General was received. In 1890, the protection of 
France was recognised by Great Britain but not by the native 
government. In 1896 the island and its dependencies were 
declared a French Colony. In 1897 the Queen was deported 
to R(^union, whence in March 1899 she was transferred to 
Algeria. Nosse B^ has been held by France since 1843. St. 
Maire was taken by France as early as 1643. 

La Reunion is situated in the Indian Ocean. The French 
settled here in 1649. It has several times been held by 
the English, but has belonged to France since 1764. It is 
administered by a Governor, and is represented by a Senator 
and two Deputies. 

Mayotte Islands and Dependencies. By decree 1899 the 
isles of Cormores were united to Mayotte and placed under 
the authority of a Governor. Mayotte was ceded to France by 
Adrian Souli in 1843, and French influence has extended ov<'r 
tlie Comoro Islands. In 1886 the chiefs placed themselves 



APPENDIX 64 1 

under French protection. Mayotte and Comoro Islands were 
in 1S96 placed under the Governor of Reunion. The Glorieuse 
Archipelago in the Indian Ocean belongs to IMayolle. 

St. Paul and Neio Amsterdam, two small islands in the 
Indian Ocean, midway between Australia and Africa. They 
were taken possession of by France in 1843. Area of St. 
Paul, 3 square miles ; New Amsterdam, 26 square miles. 

Kenjiielen's Land. A desolate island in the Antarctic 
Ocean, 85 miles long and 75 miles wide, discovered by a 
Breton sailor (after whom it was called) in 1772. It Avas 
annexed by France in 1892. 

Kerguelen, a desolate island, was annexed in 1893. 

French Indo-China is under a Governor-General, and con- 
sists of Annani, Tonking, Cochin-China, and Cambodia. 

Annam, an Empire in S.-E. Asia, now a French Protectorate ; 
it formerly included Tonking, Cochin-China, and Cambodia. 
French intervention in the affairs of Annam began as early as 
1787 and terminated in a Protectorate in 1884. The capital, 
Hue, near the coast, is garrisoned by French troops. Cochin- 
China was annexed in 1861 and is represented by one deputy. 
As far back as tlie middle of the fourteenth century, in the 
reign of Charles \., the merchants of Rouen, and others of 
Brittany and Normandy, joined in expeditions to Cochin-China. 

The Kingdom of Cambodia under King Norodom recog- 
nised a French Protectorate in 1863. Tonking was annexed 
in 1884; the King of Annam was formerly represented in 
Tonking by a Viceroy, but in 1897 he consented to the suppres- 
sion of the Viceroyalty and the creation of a French Residency 
in its place. 

The Laos territory was placed under French protection in 
1893. For commercial purposes the country is almost inac- 
cessible. 

Kwarig Chun Wan was added in 1900 to French Indo- 
China. 

By treaties of 18 14 and 181 5 the French possessions in 
India were preserved, consisting of Pondicherry, Karieal, 
Shandcrnagar, Mah6, and Yanaon. The year of acquisition 
dates from 1679. The Governor resides at Pondicherry. The 
Colony is represented by one senator and one deputy. 

French India consists of about 196 miles. 

V 2 s 



642 APPENDIX 

Chandernagore. On right bank of the Hugh, 22 miles 
above Calcutta ; area 3 1- square miles. Established 1673. For 
a time the great rival to Calcutta ; now, through the gradual 
silting up of the river, it has but little external trade. Popula- 
tion, 25,395. Seat of a French sub-governor. Town M-as 
captured by the English 1757, restored in 1763, again retaken, 
and finally restored to the French in 181 6. 

Pondlcherry. Chief of the French settlements in India. 
Situated on the Coromandel coast, 53 miles S.-W. of Madras. 
Area, 115 square miles. Population, 140,945. The Governor 
of Pondicherry is governor-general of all the French settlements 
in India. The French first settled here in 1674. It was 
several times taken from the French both by tlie Dutch and 
the English, but always restored, and finally given back by 
the latter for the third time in 1816. 

Yanaon. Small patch of Indian soil belonging to France. 
It is surrounded by British territory, and lies near the mouth 
of the Godivari. Area, 3^ square miles. Population, 4470. 

Mahe. Only French settlement on west coast of India, in 
the Malabar district, 35 miles N.N.-W. of Calicut. Area, 3f 
square miles. Population, 8280. 

Martinique was originally settled by France in 1635 ; was 
several times in English hands, but confirmed to France in 
1814. 

Guadeloupe De^^endencies. (La Gaudeloupe jumper, or Basse 
Terre, and Grande Terre, Marie, Galante, les Saintes, D(^sirade, 
St. Barthelemy, St. Martin.) Guadeloupe is one of the prin- 
cipal colonies in the West Indies, first colonised by France 
in 1635, it has several times been captured by the English; 
confirmed to France in 18 14. It is under a Governor, and is 
represented by a .senator and two deputies. 

Cayenne or French Guiana was first settled in 1626, and 
is used as a penal settlement. It is administered by a Governor 
and represented by a deputy. The boundary dispute with 
Brazil was settled by arbitration in 1900. 

St. Pierre and Mvjnellon were acquired in 1763, and are 
administered by a Governor. Islands in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, south of Newfoundland ; forms an excellent l)iisis 
for the French cod fishery. Although the French have lost 
all their possessions on the mainland of Canada, they still 



APPENDIX 643 

retain some share in the fisheries, which first attracted their 
merchant seamen to the North American coast. 

Cliesterjield Idand. Chapperton in the North Pacific. 

New Caledonia and Dependencies was discovered by Captain 
Cook in 1774. Is administered by a Governor; was acquired 
from 1854 to 1887. The dependencies are the Isle of Pines, the 
Wallis Archipelago, the Loyalty Islands, the Huron Islands, 
and Futuna and Alafi, annexed in 1888. 

The Freneli Oceania is administered Ijy a Governor. The 
islands were acquired from 1841 to 1881. They consist of the 
Society Islands, the most important of which are Tahiti and 
Moorea ; the Windward Islands, comprising Raiatea, Tapaa, 
and Bora Bora ; the Tabuai and Eavavac groups ; the island 
of Rapa, the Tuamotu Islands, the Gambler Islands, the 
Marqueza Islands. By virtue of the declaration of Pomare 
the King of the Society Islands and dependencies abdicated 
the sovereignty in favour of France; in 1880 the protec- 
torate ceased and was replaced by sovereignty direct from the 
Republic. 

The New Hebrides is under a mixed commission of French and 
British Naval officers. Under Anglo-French Convention, 1887. 

The Republic of Andorra is under the joint suzerainty of 
France and the Spanish Bishop of Urgel. Is in the Eastern 
Pyrenees, between the French Department of Briege and the 
Spanish province of Lerida, part of Catalonia. Area, 175 square 
miles. Population, 6800, but others estimate it as high as 
15,000. Governed by a sovereign council of twenty-four 
members, elected for four years. The council elects its 
president. France and the Bishop of Urgel appoint each 
a magistrate and a civil judge alternately. 

BELGIUM. 

The Congo Free State succeeded to the Congo International 
Association founded in 1883 by Leopold IT., King of the 
Belgians. That Association was recognised in its sovereignty 
by treaties in 1884 and 1885 with most of the European nations 
and the United States. Freedom of trade in the basin of the 
Congo and its tributaries was declared absolute. The j^rotection 
of the natives was laid down by certain rules, and the slave 



644 APPENDIX 

trade abolished. The State is under the sovereignty of 
Leopold II. on the basis of personal union with Belgium, the 
latter claiming the right of annexation if necessary. The 
Congo Free State resulted from the discovery of Sir H. M. 
Stanley, and the explorations carried on subsequently by the 
International Association, founded at Brussels under the presi- 
dency of the King of the Belgians in 1876. The King has 
endowed the State out of his private fortune to the extent of 
;j^4o,ooo annuall3^ 

DENMARK. 

The outlying possessions of Denmark include the Faroe 
or Sheep Islands, Iceland and Greenland in Europe, and the 
West Indian Islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John 
in America. 

The largest and least valuable of the Danish colonies is 
Greenland, whose ice-bound limits defy all attempts at precise 
definitions. The country is absolutely dependent on the 
mother country, and the trade is a government monopoly. 

Faroe Islands. The inhabitants of these islands have 
secured for themselves political and commercial independence, 
which is guarded at home by the Landsthing or Legislative 
Chamber, and in the Danish Landsthing by a special repre- 
sentative from the islands. 

Iceland constitutes an inalienable part of the Danish 
monarch, and governed by the King of J)enmark with the 
co-operation of a legislative assembly on the island known as 
the Althing. The island was })laced under the protection of 
the Norwegian King in the thirteenth century, and became 
associated with the Danish monarchy a century later. When 
the Danish people acquired their constitutional freedom this 
was not granted to Iceland, but it came later in 1874. 

West India Islands. The Danish possessions in the West 
Indian Archipelego consist of the islands of St. Croix, St. 
Thonia--, and St. .lolin, which liave a total area of 138 square 
miles. St. Croix, or Santa Cruz, is the largest of the three. 
Population, 19,783. It was discovered by Columbus in 1492, and 
belonged succi'ssively to the Dutch, English, Spanish, French, 
and Knights of Malta. It was purchased by Denmark in 1793. 

St. Thomas lies thirty-six miles east of Puerto llico. Popu- 



APPENDIX 645 

lation, 14,389. It was first colonised by the Dutch in 1657, 
and was held l)y the Ihitish lliree times — the last being 
1807-15. 

The United States Government is in treaty with the 
Danish Govtrnment for the })urchasc of the Danish West 
Indies. 

GERMANY. 

The German possessions in Africa are— 

Togoland and the Cameroons, under an Imperial Cora- 
missioiicr and Governor respectively, annexed in 1884. 

Togoland with Little Popo and Porto Seguro is situated on 
the Slave Coast in Upper Guinea, between the Gold Coast 
Colony and tlie French Colony of Dahomey ; it has an esti- 
mated area of 33,000 square miles, and a population of 2,500,000. 
The boundary is by agreement with France 1897, and Great 
Britain 1899. A German Protectorate was declared in 1884, 
and is now placed under an Imperial Commissioner. Kamerun 
(Cameroon) became a German Protectorate in 1884, and is 
placed under an Imperial Governor, assisted by a chancellor, 
two secretaries, and three representative merchants. The area 
is estimated at 191,130 square miles, 34,000 of which has 
been conceded to the North-Western Kameruti Company, who 
has received a charter to develop the Colony. 

German South-Wed Afriea, annexed 1885-90, under an 
Imperial Commissioner, Damaraland with Great Naniaqualand. 

An Anglo-German Company has obtained from the German 
Government {1892) a concession of the northern part of this 
territory. In 1900 provision was made to advance money to 
German settlers. It is under an Imperial Commissioner, was 
acquired in 1884-90^ and has an estimated area of 300,000 
square miles. 

German East Africa is under an Imperial Governor, and 
has an estimated area of 384,000 square miles, includes a 
narrow strip of territory leased from the Sultan of Zanzibar for 
fifty years from 1888, but tlie Sultan's rights were acquired by 
Germany in 1890 for 4,000,000 marks. It is under an Imperial 
Governor. Karagwe, one of the large Central African States 
formed after the dissolution of the former empire of Kitwara, 
lies mainly within the German sphere. 



646 APPENDIX 

In Asia — 

In 1897 Germany sent an armed force to Kiau Chau Bay 
in consequence of the murder of missionaries, and in 1898 
obtained the land as a fine from the Chinese Government, 
together with mining and railway concessions in the province 
of Shan Tung. The sphere of influence extends over 2740 
square miles. It is under an Imperial Governor. 

In the Pacific — 

The northern portion of the eastern half of S.E. New Guinea, 
called Kaiser Wilhelmsland, was declared a German Protecto- 
rate in 1884, with its dependencies. The development of the 
Protectorate is entrusted to the German New Guinea Company. 
The administration is in the hands of an Imperial Commissioner. 
Long Island, Dampier Island, and Rook Island, also Bougain- 
ville Island, in the Solomon group. In 1884 a protectorate 
was declared over the New Britain Archipelago and several 
adjacent groups of islands, the chief being New Britain, New 
Ireland, Duke of York, New Hannover Islands, is now called 
the Bismarck Archipelago. Solomon Islands — Germany owns 
of this group Bougainville and Buka, but Choiseul, Isabel, and 
others were transferred to Great Britain in 1899. The Solomon 
Islands and the Bismarck Archipelago are under the Imperial 
Commissioner of Kaiser AVilhelmsland. 

Marschall Islands, &c., occupied in 1885, is under an 
Imperial Commissioner, consist of two rows of lagoon islands, 
known as Ratack and Ralick respectively. 

In 1899 the Caroline, Peleii\ and Ladrone (or Marianne) 
Islands were purchased from Spain ; each of these islands is 
under a Dei)uty-Commissioner. The purchase price paid was 
^^837,500. 

The Sanioan Islands (Savaii and Upolu) are under a 
Civil Governor, and were acquired by treaty with the United 
Kingdom in 1899. Tlie independence of these islands was 
guaranteed by Great Britain, Germany, and tlie United States 
at a conference held at Berlin in 1889. In 1899 Great 
Britain renounced all right over the islands ; Germany took 
Savaii and Upolu ; the United States took Tutuila and the 
remainder. 

After the war with Franco in 1871, Alsace-Lorraine was 
added to tlie states of the German Empire ; the state is repre- 



APPENDIX 647 

sented in the Bundesratli by four commissioners (without votes) 
nominated by the Statthalter, and fifteen elected deputies in 
the Reichstag. 

Heligoland was ceded to Germany by Great Britain in 1890, 
and is now included in Schleswig-Holstein, one of the provinces 
of Prussia. 

RUSSIA. 

Finland was ceded to the Emperor of Russia in 1809, 
and preserves some remains of its ancient constitution, which 
was a constitutional monarchy of an antiquated type. The 
Finnish Diet consists of four estates — nobles, clergy, burgesses, 
and peasants convoked triennally, and the country is 
chiefly governed by the Imperial Finnish Senate of twenty- 
two members. The Governor-General is nominated by the 
Crown. Finland has its own money and system of custom- 
house. 

Poland had a constitution of its own from 1815 to 1830, 
and a separate Government till 1864. In 1868 it was abso- 
lutely incorporated with Russia. 

The Baltic Provinces had some measure of self-government, 
but in 1889 the last vestige was abolished. 

Bokhara was founded by the Usbegs in the fifteenth century, 
after the power of the Golden Horde had been crushed by 
Tamerlane. The present dynasty of j\tanguts dates from the 
end of the eighteenth century. In 1866 a holy Avar was pro- 
claimed against Russia, which terminated in 1873 by Bokhara 
becoming a Russian dependency, retaining its reigning sovereign, 
with a Russian political resident. 

Khiva, like Bokhara, was founded in the fifteenth century 
])y the Usbegs; its relations with Russia is said to have com- 
menced at the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the 
Khivan Khans first acknowledged the Czar's supremacy. In 
1872 Russia invaded Khiva on the pretext that the Khivans 
had aided the rebellious Kirghiz, and the Khanate was put 
under Russian control, retaining its reigning sovereign. Khiva 
has no external relations except with Russia. 

Kwang-tung. By agreement with China in 1898 Russia 
obtained a lease of Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan with the 
adjacent seas and territory to the north for twenty-five years. 



648 APPENDIX 

which may be extended by mutual agreement. In 1899 ^^^ 
name Kwang-tung was given by Eussia to the province. 

Manchuria is now held in military occupation by Russia 
till order is restored. 

ITALY. 

The government of the Italian dependencies is represented 
by a civil governor nominated by the King. The governor is 
under the Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

In 1889 the Sultan of Obbia on the Somali coast put his 
sultanate under the protection of Italy. In 1892 the Sultan 
of Zanzibar ceded to Italy the Somali coast with the ports of 
Brava, Merka, Magadisho, and Warsheik. 

Italy possesses the Colony of Eritrea, a protectorate over part 
of the Somali coast and the isolated stations on the Juba River in 
North-East Africa. The commencement of the Italian influence 
was made in 1880, when the district of Assab was transferred 
from a trading company to the Government. In 1885 the 
town of Kassala was abandoned by the Egyptian Government, 
was occupied, and shortly afterwards the tract of land now 
known as Eritrea was taken over. In 1889 a protectorate was 
declared over the kingdom of Abyssinia, and after a disastrous 
campaign was abandoned. Somaliland was retained. The 
isolated station of Lugh on the Juba was also reserved. In 
1897 Kassala was restored to Egypt. 

San Marino was founded in the fourth century and 
governed by a council of sixty (twenty nobles, twenty towns- 
men, and twenty peasants), of whom two act jointly as regents. 
In 1872, by a treaty, it placed itself under the protection of 
Italy. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

Alaska, the north-western portion of the North American 
continent. A third of the fourtli portion of the territory lies 
witliin the Arctic circle. It is very thinly inhabited. It was 
purchased from Russia by the United States Government in 
1867 for 7,200,000 dols. Population, 31,795, of whom oidy 
about one-eighth are whites, the bulk being Indians. 

Hawdiian or Sandwich IdancU was discovered by the 
Spaniards under Galtano in 1549, and visited l)y Captain 
Cook in 1778. It formed during the greater part of tlio 



APPENDIX 649 

nineteenth century an independent kingdom, whope integrity 
was recognised by Great Britain, United States, and other 
Governments. In 1893 the Queen Liliuokalani -was deposed, 
and a Republic proclaimed. In i8g8 the islands were formally 
annexed by Congress to the United States, and on 30th April 
1900 the inhabitants were declared to be citizens of the United 
States and of the territory of Hawaii. 

Samoan Idands. By the Anglo-German agreement, 1889, 
the island of Tuturla and all other islands in the Archipelago 
east of 170° E. of Greenwich were reserved to the United 
States of America. 

Cuba, the largest island of the West Indies. Till 1898 the 
principal colony left to Spain. Area, including adjacent islands, 
46,419 square miles. Population, 1,650,000. It was dis- 
covered by Columbus in 1492, and settled by the Spaniards in 
1 5 1 1 . On the conclusion of peace between the United States 
and Spain in 1899 the island was made a dependency of the 
former country, and though Congress has affirmed Cuban inde- 
pendence, the island is held in military occupation by the 
United States forces, pending its future constitution. 

Porto Rico or Puerto Rico, another of the West Indian 
Islands, belonging to Spain until 1898. Area, 3530 square 
miles ; population, 820,000 ; and is situated seventy-five miles 
east of Osayti. It is now under military rule. 

Philippine Islands, a group of a large number of islands in 
the north of the Eastern Archipelago. Discovered by Magellan 
in 152 1, and annexed by Spain in 1569, to whom they 
belonged until they were ceded to the United States on the 
termination of the war in 1898, for a payment of ^4,000,000. 

Guam, the largest island of the Ladrone Archipelago. By 
a recent decision the colonial possession of the United States, 
as such, are not entitled to the benefits of the constitution by 
way of representation in Congress ; was also ceded by Spain at 
the Treaty of Paris, and will probably be used as a coaling 
station for the U.S. navy. 

JAPAN. 

Taiu-an (Formosa) and Hohvto (the Pescadores) were ceded 
to Japan upon the close of the Chinese War of 1895. Taiwan 
has a Governor-General with extreme powers, and is now an 
integral part of Japan. 



650 



APPENDIX 



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APPENDIX 



653 



Total Value of the Import and Export Tradk of the 

United Kingdom. 



Imports from Foreign Countries 
,, ,, Britisli Possessions 

Exports to Forei",'!) Countries . 
,, British Possessions . 

British Product :uiil I\Ianuf,ictures 
Foreign and Colonial JMorcliandise 



tgoo. 



413.544,528 
109,530.635 
252,349.700 
102,024,054 
291,191,996 
63,181.758 



1899. 

Ji 
378,206,288 
106,829.295 
235,285.062 

94,249,596 
264,492.211 

65,042,447 



1889. 



Total of Imports and Exports . 877,448,917 814,570,241 



C 
330,168.729 

97,094,254 

224.275.950 

90.420.791 

248,935,195 
66,657,484 



743,230,274 



Shipping — Total Tonnage of British and Foreign Vessels 
AT PoRT.s OF United Kingdom. 





1899. 


1 — i,. 


British ...... 

Foreign 

Total . 


Tons. 
65,648,989 

32,123,898 


Tons. 
52,469,654 

19,420.241 


97,782,887 


71.889,895 



Total Value of Foreign Merchandise Imported for Tranship- 
ment from Countries and British Possessions at Ports 
in the United Kingdom — not included in Lmpout and 
Export Table. 





1899. 

9,989,118 
797,494 


1889. 


Foreign Countries .... 
British Possessions .... 

Total . 


9,089,221 
1,091,791 


10,786,612 


10,181,012 



UNITED 

TRADE WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES 



Total Imports and Exports of the United 
Kingdom from and to the Countries named. 



Countries from which 

Imported and to which 

Exported from United 

Kingdom. 



1899. 



Russia 
Colonies 



Imports. 



18,711,168 



Exports. 



Denmark (including Ice- ( 

land and Greenland) j ^2,432,977 



Colonies (West Indies) 
Germany 

Colonies 
Holland . 

Colonies 
Belgium . 

Congo Free State 
France 

Colonies 
Portugal . 

Colonies 

Spain 

Colonies (Cuba, Porto] 
Rico, Pliilippines, 
and Ladrones, 1888. 
Canary Islands only, 
1899) 

Italy .... 

Colonies 
United States . 

Colonies 

(;ul)a, I'orto Rico, \ 
I'liilippines, and La- \ 
drones . . ) 

Japan .... 

Colonies 



258 

30,123,058 

48,736 

30,473,489 

341,866 

22,861,967 

5,679 
53.000,788 



16,138,580 



4,399,025 

48,415 

37,978,257 

150.184 

14,044,468 

2,503,891 

14,586,549 

112,934 

22,277,012 



1,404,322 , 1,511,283 



3,172,258 

299,915 

14,572,954 

841,217 

3,637,096 

•ji20,o8i,i88 
25,621 

1,243,315 
1,692,408 



2,639,882 
2,075,657 
5,619,232 

767,646 

7,725,984 

34,975,472 
2,133,207 

438,635 
8,251,991 



1888. 



Imports. 



27,154,490 



7,845.877 

5,029 
27,104,832 

48,4311 
26,679,216 

2,326,080 
17,674,877 

45,780,277 

674,447 
3,105,076 

321,315 
",558,857 

2,565,891 

3,230,131 

95,461,475 



Exports. 

£. 
8,643,256 



2,817,954 

84,262 
31,283,624 

76,557 

16,183,786 

2,010,181 

13,678,861 

22,232,605 

723,548 
2,996,618 

1,056,799 
4,925,712 

4,807,088 

8,063,854 

43,878,934 



Exports of the Product 

and Manufacture of 

the United Kingdom. 



1899. 



977,606 



1895. 



4,055,386 



11,720,333 



3,961,807 

46,550 

25,996,127 

138,164 

9,425,974 

2,472,533 

9,836,165 

105,545 
15,283,079 

1,413,619 
2,100,125 

1,924,509 
4,634,087 

686,451 

6,985,916 



5,332,258 



2,368,284 

81,724 
18,478,136 

9,724,757 
1,963,031 
7,229,418 

14,682,677 

664,664 

2,511,240 

1,005,217 

4,237,990 

3,783,527 

7,156,557 



18,119,380 30,293,942 
1,386,717 

413.043 
7,909,1581 3,888,i£ 



KINGDOM 

WHICH HAVE COLONIES 





Exports of Foreign 
and Colonial Product 


Forcit'ii .Munliandisc 
Imported for Tran- 
shipment from each 
Country at Ports of 
the United Kingdom. 


liiiinatje of Foreign 

Vessels at the 

Ports of the 


Gold and Silver, Bullion and Specie. 




and Manufacture. 


I'nited Kingdom. 
Entered and Cleared 


1899. 1889. 




1899. 


1889. 


1899. 


1889. 


1899. 


1889. 


Imports. 


£xi>ort8. 


Imports. Exports. 




4,418,247 


3.311,005 


12,469 


1,464 


Tons. 
903,547 


Tons. 
513,119 


£. 


3,102,360 


jC 


£ 




437,218 


449,670 


31,421 


521 


3,275,632 


... 
1,760,136 


... 


8,500 




4.570 




1,865 


2,538 


6 


570 




... 


... 


... 




... 




11,982,130 


12,805,488 


1,136,418 


1,091,916 


5,238,057 


3,956,315 


3,037,596 


4,904,122 


443792 


373,733 




12,020 




20 


















4,618,494 


6,479,522 


960,922 


475,307 


2,950,447 


1,920,2961 1,405,286 


744,485 


2,254,067 


190,561 




31,358 


47,468 


12,892 


















4,750,384 


6,449,443 


475,237 


331,760 


1,494,438 


792,394 


1,510,766 


365,690 


577,361 


272,092 




7,389 




102 


















6,993,933 


7,549,928 


3,538,410 


3,469,658 


2,535,136 


1 
1,867,567 2,566,947 


2,324,456 


3,953,173 


1,818,567 




98,264 


59,560 


1,081 


... 


... 




... 


... 








539,756 


485,378 


190,17s 


278,514 


67,597 


72,247 


212,411 


152,756 


9,558 


2,113,995 




151,148 


51,781 


103,756 


... 


... 


... 




... 








985,145 


687,722 


366,481 


342,219 


2,006,440 


1,208,198 


83,048 


1,370,556 


198,671 


298,902 




81,195 


1,023,559 


389 


101,398 








... 








740,068 


907,297 


82,813 


78,675 


1,087,806 


456,150 








... 




16,856,092 


13.584,992 


840,941 


981,299 


569.979 


325.610 


11,200,522 


1,34^,987 


6.772,774 


41.450 




746,490 




11,680 




... 




... 










342,833 


167,198 


43,153 


26,528 




i 


970 

1 


612,000 


... 



























656 



APPENDIX 





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APPENDIX 



657 



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662 APPENDIX 

TRADE OF COLONISING COUNTRIES 

Total Imports and Exports of Merchandise with their 
Colonies, the United Kingdom and its Colonies. 



Countries. 



Russia — 

Total . 
Finland 

Bokhara and Khiva 
United Kingdom 
Colonies ... 
Denmark — 

Total . 
Colonies ... 
United Kingdom 
Colonies . 
Germany — 

Total . 
Colonies . . . 
United Kingdom 
Colonies . . 
Holland- 
Total . 
Colonies . . 
United Kingdom 
Colonies . 
Belgium — 

Total . 

Congo .... 

United Kingdom 

Colonies . . 

France — 

Total . . 
Colonies ... 
United Kingdom 
Colonies. 
Portugal — 

Total . 

Colonies . . . 

Unit|td Kingdom 

Colonies . . . 

Spain — 

Total . 
Canary Islands . 
Porto Rico, Cuba, 
andPhilippines 
United Kiiig<loni 
Colonies . 
Italy- 
Total . 
United Kingdom 
Colonies 
United States — 

Total . 
Hawaiian Inlands 
Cuba, I'liito Ilic", 
and I'liilipiiiiK'S 
United Kitigiloni 
('(jloiiics. 
Japan — 

Total . 

United Kingdom 

Colonioii . . . 



Imports. 



£ 

65,176,000 
2,030,650 
2,253,000 

12,250,000 



25,679,000 

123,000 

5,467,000 



254,030,000 

220,000 

28,316,000 

18,308,000 

149,645.000 

21,813,000 

22,417,000 

4,670,000 

81,789,000 

847,000 

11,352,000 

5,108,000 

178,904,000 
16,456,000 
20,198,000 
i2,579>ooo 

10,936,000 

262,000 

3.505,000 



28,938,000 
47,000 

2,010,000 

5,682,000 
884,000 

56,533,000 

10,155,000 

2,878,000 

128,344,000 
3,681,000 



Exports. 



/ , 4,474.000 

22,697,000 
. I 16,259,000 

, I 29,847,000 

. j 6,567,000 

6,101,000 



Imports. 



£ 

77,338,000 
3.525,000 
2,656,000 

14,8^,000 



18,131,000 

142,000 

11,246,000 



187,830,000 

473,000 

37,036,090 

6,890,000 

126,321,000 

5,626,000 

28,150,000 

240,000 

71,480,000 

368,000 

12,261,000 

1,478,000 

140,436,000 

15,609,000 

40,863,000 

1,007,000 

7,003,000 
1,127,000 
1,974,000 



36,758,000 
205,000 

4,373,000 

10,100,000 
284,000 

48,143,000 
4,664,000 
1,321,000 

252,144,000 
1,203,000 

2,259,000 

111,333,000 
26,664,000 

18,105,000 

795,000 

4,425,000 



£ 
39,074,000 
1,214,000 

10,755.000 



15,242,000 

126,000 

3,518,000 



200,755,000 

231,000 

33,262,000 

7,519,000 

106,008,000 

10,008,000 

28,449,000 

2,459,000 

61,375,000 

18,000 

7,302,000 

2,440,000 

164,280,000 
12,221,000 

21,153,000 
9,242,000 

8,568,000 

178,000 

2,769,000 



28,643,000 
29,000 

2,626,000 

4,871,000 
779,000 

46,984,000 

10,558,000 

3,158,000 

150,824,000 
2,304,000 

13,333.000 

37,063,000 
17,362,000 

10,091,000 
2,929,000 
1,868,000 



Exports. 



£ 
78,405,000 
2,054,000 

30,428,000 



10,366,000 

143,000 

6,221,000 



158,335,000 

192,000 

32,337,000 

3,664,000 

92,900,000 

4,154,000 

24,851,000 

290,000 

49,748,000 

98,000 

10,244,000 

516,000 

129,868,000 
10,137,000 

34,545,000 
986,000 

5,275,000 

204,000 

1,761,000 



30,524,000 
63,000 

3,462,000 

7,175,000 
179,000 

35.677.000 
4,639,000 
1,005,000 

142,471,000 
630,000 

2,461,000 

74,633,000 
13,205,000 

10,130,000 

889,000 

1,364,000 



COLONIAL CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



787. First invasion of England by Northmen. 

876. Rollo the Northman overruns Normandy. 

913. Rollo recognised as Duke of Normandy by Charles the 

Simple. 
933. Channel Islands ceded to William of Normandy by Rodolph 

of Brittany. 
1066. N(M-man Conquest of England. 
1 1 54. Pope Adrian IV. bestows Ireland on Henry II. 
1 171. The supremacy of Henry II. acknowledged by the chiefs 

in Ireland. 
1284. The Statute of Wales settles the administration of that 

country. 
1294. First alliance between Scotland and France against England. 
1329 and 1 33 1. Edward III. does homage for his French lands to 

the King of France. 
1337. Edward III. takes title of King of France, which is given 

up in 1360, and finally in 1802. 
1347. Calais taken by Edward III. 
1366. Rouen merchants trade with Gold Coast. 
1431. Henry IV. crowned at Paris. 
1453. Final loss of France to England, except Calais. 
1462. Gibraltar taken by the Spaniards from the Moors. 
1481. Elmina founded bj^ the Portuguese. 
i486. Bartliolomew Diaz and Portuguese discovers the "Cape of 

Good Hope" and lands at Algoa Bay. 
1492. St. Salvador (Bahamas) discovered by Columbus. 

1492. Hispaniola (Hayti) discovered by Columbus. 

1493. Leeward Islands discovered by Cohnnbus. 

1493. Papal Bull regulates the frontier between Spanish and 
Portuguese Colonial possessions. 

1493. Dominica, Antigua, and Montserrat discovered. 

1494. Jamaica discovered by Columbus. 

1497. Vasco da (Jama rounds Cape of Good Hope. 

1497. Newfo\indland and mainland of America discovered liy 

John Cabot. 
1497. Vasco da Gama discovers sea route to India. 

1497. Natal discovered by Vasco da Gama on Christmas day. 

1498. Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, Nevis, and St. Vincent discovered 

by Columbus. 
1498. Vasco da Gama visits Calicut (Hindustan). 

1500. Caspar Cortereal entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

1 501. Ascension discovered by De Nova. 

663 



664 APPENDIX 

1502. St. Helena discovered by the Portuguese. 
1502. St. Lucia discovered by Columbus. 
1505. Sychelles discovered by the Portuguese. 

1505. Ceylon visited by the Portuguese. 

1506. Tristan da Cunha discovered. 

I 507. Mauritius discovered by the Portuguese. 

1 509. First settlement of the Spaniards at Jamaica. 

151 1. Malacca taken by the Portuguese; held till 1641. 

151 1. Antonio de Abrea discovers New Guinea. 

1 5 12. Ponce de Leon discovered Florida. 

1 5 1 5 . Juan Bermudez discovers the Bermudas. 

1 5 1 7. Sebastian Cabot discovered Hudson Bay. 

1 5 17. Portuguese build a factory at Colombo. 

1519-22. Magelhaens circumnavigated the world. 

1524. Verrazano explored the Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia. 

1526. Babar founds the Mughal Empire in India. 

1532. Bombay occupied by the Portuguese. 

1534. June 21. Landing of Jacques Cartier at Esquimaux Bay. 

First landing on Canadian soil. 
1550. Boulogne restored to France. 
1 556-1605. Akbar, the Great Mughal, reigned. 
1558. Calais captured by the French. 

1 562-64. The Spaniards destroy the Huguenot colonies in Florida. 
1576-78. Frobisher's voyage: he explores the coast of Greenland. 
1577-80. Drake's voyage round the world. 

1578. Gilbert gets a charter to colonise America. 

1579. Thomas Stevens visits Goa. 

1580. Spain annexes Portugal. 

1580. Dutch West India Co. plant a colony at River Pomeroon, 

now British Guiana. 
1580. The British plant flag at Tobago. 
1583. Gilbert annexes Newfoundland. 
1585. Raleigh founds an English colony in America (no permanent 

settlement made). 
1 588. Captain Cavendish lands at St. Helena. 
1588. Queen Elizabeth grants patent to merchants to trade with 

the Gambia. 

1 588. Defeat of the Spanish Armada. 

1589. An English expedition reaches India by land. 
1 591. Rainhold's voyage to Senegambia. 

1 59 1. British ships visit the Cape of Good Hope. 

1 592. The Falkland Islands discovered by Davis. 
1595. Sir Walter Raleigh visits Trinidad. 

1598. The Marquis de la Roche landed forty convicts on Sable 

Island (Canada). 
1 598. Mauritius occupied by the Dutch. 

1600. East India Company founded. 

1 60 1. Alleged discovery of Australia by Manoel Godinho de Eredia, 

a Portuguese. 

1602. Dutcli sliips land at the Cape of Good Hope. 

1602. The Dutch East India Company founded. 

1603. First visit of Samuel de Champlain to Canada. 
1603. The Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland. 



APPENDIX 665 

604. The English attempt to colonise Guiana. 

604. The French East India Company foniuled. 

605. Founding of Port Royal, Acadie. 

606. The Dutch visit Australia — Torres Straits discovered. 

607. Virginia colonised. 

608. Founding of Quebec, tlic first permanent settlement of New 

Franco. 

608. First permanent Englisli settlement on mainland of America. 

609. The Englisli, under Somers, annex the Bermudas. 

610. Henry Hudson wintered in James' Bay, after three months 

exploration of Hudson Bay. 

611. Jesuits arrived in Port Royal, Acadie. 

615. Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Nipissing discovered by 

Champlain. 

616. Tranquebar granted to the Danes. 

617. Canada invaded by the Iroquois. 

617. Raleigh's voyage to Guiana. 

618. The English settle on the Gambia and the Gold Coast. 
620. The English take possession of the Cape of Good Hope, but 

no settlement made. 

620. Landing of the first Puritan settlement at Plymouth in 

America. 

621. The Dutch colonise New Netherlands (New York). 
623. Nova Scotia first settled by the English. 

623. The Dutch, by " Massacre of Aniboyna," drive the English 

from Spice Islands. 

624. Manliattan (now New York) founded by the Dutch. 

625. Barbados settled. 

625. Jamestown founded. 

626. The Frencli West African Company formed. 

627. Canada, including Acadie, granted to the Company of " 100 

Associates " by the King of France. 

627. The English attempt to colonise Guiana. 

627-28. The West Coast of Australia surveyed by Dutch 
navigators. 

628. The English colonise the Bermudas. 

628. Port Royal (Acadie) taken by Sir David Kirke. 
628. The English colonise Nevis (W. I.). 
628-58. Reign of Shah Jahun in India. 

628. Massachusetts colonised. 

629. July. Capture of Quebec by the English under Sir David 

Kirke. 
629. Treaty of Susa between Great Britain and France. 
629. The Massachusetts Bay Company formed. 

629. The English colonise Bahamas. 

630. The English on tlie Moscpiito Coast. 

632. Canada, Cape Breton and Acadie restored to France by the 

Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye. 
632. Tlie first school opened in Quebec. 
632. The English colonise Antigua and Montserrat. 
632. The Dutch settle in Tobago. 
634. The English permitted to trade throughout the dominions 

of the Muirhal. 



666 APPENDIX 

[634. Maryland colonised. 

[635. Connecticut colonised. 

[635. Marquis de Gamache founded Jesuits' College in Quebec. 

[635. Lake Michigan discovered by Nicolet. 

1635. December 25. Death of Champlain at Quebec. 

[637. De Sillery founded school and home for Indians near Quebec. 

1637. The Dutch expel Portuguese from Gold Coast, capturing 
Elmina and Asim. 

[638. Newhaven and Maine colonised. 

1638. The Swedes found New Sweden. 

[638. A Buccaneer colony at Honduras formed. 

1639. The Ursuline Convent founded at Quebec. 

1639. The Hotel Dieu founded in Quebec by Duchesse D'Aiguillon. 

1639. Madras acquired ; first English territory in India. 
[640. Lake Erie discovered by Chaumonot and Brebceuf. 
[640. The English export negroes to America. 

1640. The Dutch take Malacca from Portuguese. 

[640. The East India Company's factory founded at Hugh. 

1 64 1. New Hampshii-e joined to Massachusetts. 

[642. May 18. Ville Marie (Montreal) founded by Maisonneuve, 

Fort Richelie (now Sorel) founded by Montmagny. 
[642. Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand. 
[642. Another French East India Company founded. 
[643. Tasman discovers the Fiji Islands. 
[643. A "New England Confederation" is formed in America of 

Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and Newhaven. 
1644. Rhode Island colonised. 
1647. Lake St. John discovered. 
1650. The English colonise Anguilla. 
1650. Grenada and St. Lucia settled by the French. 
[652. The Dutch occui^y Cape of Good Hope. 
[654. Acadie taken by the English. 
1655. Dutch aiuiex New Sweden. 
1655. Jamaica taken by British. 
1655. The Treaty of Westminster, restoring Canada and Acadie 

to the French. 
[658. The Dutch drive Portuguese from Ceylon. 
t66o. The Anglo-French Agreement. 
1661. St. Helena occupied by East India Company. 
t66i. The English get Bombay as part of dowry of Catherine of 

Braganza. 
[662. The Company of "Royal Adventurers" receive charter 

from Charles II. 
[662. Constitution granted to Jamaica by Cliarles II. 

1663. The Englisli occupy St. Lucia (\V. L). 

1664. Con(|uoHt of New Netlicrlands in Amori(!a from the Dutch; 

granted to Duke of York, and called New York. 
1664. French take Montserrat. 
1664. First House of Assemlily ii> Jamaica. 
1664. Sivaji l)ecomes Rilji'i (»f Marathas. Defence of Surat against 

Sivaji. 

1664. Another French East India Company cstablislied. 

1665. The Dutch seize St. Helena. 



APPENDIX 667 

1665. Western Australia named by the Dutch "New Holland." 

1665. New Jersey colonised. 

1665-67. War between Enfjlish and Dutch. 

1666. The En^'lish take Vir<rin Isles (W. I.). 

1666. French take Anti<,nia and all St. Kitts. 

1667. The English take Cape Coast Castle from Dutch, and lose 

Cormantine. 
1667. The English cede St. Lucia to French, and receive l)ack 

Antigua, Montserrat, and share in St. Kitts. The French 

obtain St. Domingo. 
1667. Acadie restored to Prance by Treaty of Breda. 

1667. The English cede Sui'inam to the Dutch in exchange for 

New York. 

1668. Charles II. gives Bombay to East India Company. 
1670. Honduras ceded by Spain. 

1670. The Hudson Bay Company founded. 

1670-96. No goods allowed to be imported from the colonies to 
Ireland. 

1 67 1. First purchase of land at Cape by Dutch from Hottentots. 
1671. The Danes occupy St. Thomas (W. I.). 

1 67 1. The buccaneer, Morgan, sacked Panama. , 

1672. The Royal African Company formed to trade with Gold 

Coast. 
1672-74. War between English and Dutch. 

1673. Tlie Dutch take New York, but restore it to English 1674. 

1673. The East India Company retake St. Helena from the Dutch. 

1674. Grenada ainiexed to France. 
1677. The French take Tobago. 

1681. Bengal made a separate presidency. 

1682. The Compagnie du Nord formed at Quebec for Hudson Bay 

fin- tiading in Hudson Bay. 

1682. The Dutch take Bantam. 

1683. Charter of Massachusetts annulled by Charles II. 

1683. Rising at Bombay (juelled. 

1684. Captain Rogers visits Natal. 

1685. The French expel English from Hudson Bay. 

1687. The East India Company's factory moved frtnn Surat to 
Bombay. English driven from Hugh, but allowed to 
return. 

1688-89. Three hundred Huguenot refugees arrive at the Cape 
of Good Hope. 

1689. The French take St. Kitts. 

1690. The Enghsh take St. Kitts. 
1690. Calcutta founded. 

1690. Capture of Fort Rojal ])y Sir \N'illiam Phipps. 

1696. The East India Company build Fort William. 

1697. Treaty of Ryswick. Mutual restoration of places taken 

during the war. 

1697. St. Kitts to be shared by the French and English. 

1698. Death of Frontenac. 

1699. Dampier exi)lores the west coast of Australia. 

1699. The French colonise Louisiana. 

1700. East India Company buj- site of Calcutta. 



66Z APPENDIX 

1 701. August 4. Ratification of a treaty of peace with the Iroquois 

at Montreal. Canadians granted leave to engage in 
manufacturing. 

1702. Jerseys united. 

1702. The English take all St. Kitts. 

1703. Delaware colonised. 

1703. St. Lucia capitulated to General Greenfield. 

1704. Gibraltar captured by Rooke and Cloudesley Shovel. 

1707. Act of Union, England and Scotland, passecl. 

1708. The Old and New Companies united, three Presidencies 

established, and a Governor and Council appointed for 

Bombay. 
1708. Minorca captured by General Stanhope. 
1712. Dissolution of the Royal African Company; trade open 

to all. 

1 7 12. The Dutch abandon the Mauritius. 

17 1 3. The English obtain all St. Kitts and facilities for slave trade 

(" Assiento Treaty "). 

1 71 3. Treaty of Utrecht, by which Hudson Bay and adjacent 
territory, Nova Scotia (Acadie) and Newfoundland were 
ceded to the English. Louisburg founded. 

17 18. Pirates driven from the Bahamas. 

17 1 8. Law's Mississippi Company found New Orleans. 

1 7 1 9. First Government founded at- Nova Scotia. 
1 72 1. The Dutch attempt to colonise Natal. 

1 72 1 . January 2 1 . Mail stage coaches established between Quebec 

and Montreal. 
1 72 1. The French East India Company occupy the Mauritius. 
1 72 1. The Dutch settlement at Natal abandoned. 

1 73 1. The Swedish India Company formed. 

1732. The colony of Georgia founded. 

1738. The Maroons allowed to settle in the north of Jamaica. 

1739. Invasion of India by Nadir Shah. 

1 744. The French take St. Lucia. 

1745. Louisburg and Isle of Cape Breton taken from French. 

1746. Labourdonnais takes Madras; Englisli retire to Fort St. 

David. 
1748. St. Lucia, St Vincent, Tobago, and Dominica to be 

neutral. 
1748. The English vainly attack Pondicherry. Madras restored to 

the English. 
1 748. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

1748. Restoration of Louisl)in-g to the French in exchange for 

Madras, by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

1749. June 21. The City of Halifax founded by Lord Halifax. 
175 I. Rocky Mountains discovered by Niverville's Expedition. 

175 1. Capture of Arcot by Robert Cliv'o. 

1752. March 23. Issue of the Halifax Gazette, the first paper pub- 

lished in Canada. 
1752. The new style introduced intn England. Year began 

January 1, not Marcli 25, and eleven days suppressed 

between 2nd and 14th of September, 
1752. Trichensprey surrendered to French. 



APPENDIX 669 

1754. The French recall Dupleix. Treaty of Peace signed at 

Pondicherry. 
1754. The French annex the Seychelles. 

1754. The French occupy Fort Duquesne, on the Ohio. 

1755. Expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia. 

1756. Sinij-iid-daulii takes Calcutta. (Black Hole Massacre.) 
1756. The English take Dominica. 

1756. The French take Port Mahon in Minorca. 

1757. Clive recovers Calcutta, takes Chandernagar, and defeats 

Naw;ib at Plassey. 

1758. The Pjuglish take Senegal and Goree. 

1758. July 26. Final capture of Louisburg by the EngUsh under 

General Amherst. 
1758. First meeting of Nova Scotian Legislature. 
1758. Clive, Governor of Bengal, reduces Chinsurah to mere 

trading post. 
1758. Capture of Fort Duquesne (afterwards called Pittsburg). 

1758. Louisburg and Cape Breton taken. 

1759. Battle of Quebec. Death of Wolfe. Quebec, Ticonderoga, 

Crown Point, and Fort Niagara captured. 

1 760. The English take Montreal. Conquest of Canada completed. 
1 760. Rising of slaves in Jamaica. 

1760. Victory of Wandewash secures Madras to England, and 

completes the downfall of French in India. 

1 76 1. Capture of Martinique by the English. 

1 76 1 . Capture of Pondicherry from French ; restored 1 763. 

1762. First English settlement in New Brunswick. 

1762. The English take Havannah, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and 

Grenada. 
1762. Capture of Manilla (Pliilippine Islands). 
1762. Capture of Havannah (Cuba). 

1762. Grenada surrendered to England. 

1763. The English retain Tobago, Dominica, St. Vincent, Grenada, 

but restore St. Lucia to France, and giv'e back Havannah 

to Spain. 
1763. The peace of Paris. England keeps her conquests in 

America, including Canada and parts of West Indies. 

Restores Pondicherry. 
1763. The English retain Senegal, but return Goree to France. 
1763. Explorations of Wallis and Carteret in Australia. 
1763. The English massacred at Patnti. 

1763. Falkland Islands taken by the French. 

1764. Spain buys Falkland Isles. 

1764. Act for taxing American imports ; all taxes removed except 
tea in 1770. 

1764. Munro, at Bax;ir, defeats league of Great Mughal, Nawiib of 

Bengal and Waxir of Oudh. Makes England the leading 
Power in India. 

1765. Grenville's Stamp Act for America. Repealed in 1766. 
1765. The English garrison Falkland Isles. 

1765. Isle of Man annexed to Great Britain. 
1767. Carteret discovers Pitcairn's Island. 
1767. Townshend's Revenue Act passed. 



670 APPENDIX 

1768-71. Captain Cook circumnavigated the world. 

1769. Cook visits New Zealand and Fiji. 

1770. Prince Edward Isle separated from Nova Scotia. 
1770. Spain seizes Falkland Isles. 

1770. Cook visits Australia, landing at Botany Bay, and names 
the country New South Wales. 

1770. Captain Cook lands at Moreton Bay (Queensland). 

1 77 1. England recaptures Falkland Isles. 

1 77 1. The French take Dominica. 

1772. Lord Mansfield declares slavery cannot exist in England. 

1773. Exploration of Furneaux. 
1773. Boston tea riot. 

1773. First meeting of the House of Assembly of Prince Edward 

Island. 

1774. The " Quebec Act " passed. 

1774. Warren Hastings becomes first Governor-General of India. 

He reorganised the administration. 
1774. Falkland Isles abandoned. 
1774. Cook discovers Norfolk Island. 

1774. Assembly of Massachusetts meets for the last time under 

the English Crown. 

1775. The French retake Senegal. 
1775-83. War of American Independence. 

1775. George Washington appointed Commander-in-Chief in 
America. 

1775. Battle of Bunker's Hill. 

1776. Battle of Long Island; Declaration of Independence. 

1777. Surrender at Saratoga. 

1778. June 3. First issue of the Montreal Gazette. This paper is 

still published. 
1778. Cook arrived in Nootka Sound and claimed the present 

north-west coast (British Columbia) for the Crown of 

Great Britain. 
1778-82. French take all West Indies, except Jamaica, Antigua, 

Barbados, and Bahamas (which last Spain take). 
1778. France recognises the independence of United States. 

1778. American ally with France. 

1779. Spain joins in American war. 

1779. French take English posts, but lose Goree. 

1780-83. War: England against France, Spain, and Holland for 
naval supremacy. 

1780. Pitcairn Island occupied by Mutineers of Bounty. 

1 78 1. Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown. 
1 78 1. The Dutch war with the Katiirs. 

1 78 1. Tobago cai)tured by the French. 

1 78 1. Hayder Ali defeated by Sir Eyre Coote. 

1782. Rodney victorious in West Indies against the Count do 

Grasse. 
1782. England acknowledges tlie independence of tlie United 

States. 
1782. Rodney's victory off Dominica saves Jamaica. 
1782. English lose Minorca. 
1782. English invade Ceylon. 



APPENDIX 671 

1783. English to have Gambia ; France to have Senegal and Goree. 

1783. Treaty of Versailles. French and Americans get right to 

fisli in Gulf of St. Lawrence. Boundary lietween Canada 
and the United States defined. 

1784. August 16. New Brunswick made a separate province. 
1784. Pitt's India Bill passed, forming Board of Control. 

1784. Tipu of Mj'sore makes peace. 

1785. May 18. Date of cliarter of St. John, N.B., the oldest 

incorporated town in Canada. 

1 786. First vessel on the Pacific coast launched by Captain John 

Meares. 

1786. Penang ceded to the East India Company. 

1787. Fi-eed negroes settled at Sierra Leone. 
1787. The French acquire Cape Verde and Dakar. 

1787. First Colonial See established in the British Empire in 

connection with the Church of England in Nova Scotia. 
1787. Association for Abolition of Slave Trade foi-med. 

1 787. Sierra Leone ceded to Great Britain by native chiefs 

1788. Captain Arthur Philips lands a party of convicts at Port 

Jackson, N.S.W. 

1788. Sydney founded; convicts sent to Norfolk Island. 
1789-93. Permanent land settlement established in Bengal. 

1789. Battle of St. George Coy ; Spaniards expelled from Briti.sh 

Honduras. 

1 790. Vancouver Island circumnavigated by Captain Vancouver. 

1 79 1. Canada divided into two provinces. 

1792. September 17. First meeting of the Parliament of Tapper 

Canada at Newark (Niagara). English law introcUiced. 

1 793. Slavery abolished in Upper Canada. 

1793. The East India Company annex New Guinea for a time. 

1793. Pondicherry taken from Froncli. 

1793. The English take Tobago and St. Vincent. 

1794. The English take St. Lucia, Martinique, and Guadaloupe. 

1 794. Seychelles taken by the English. 

1795. '^^^^ English take Malacca from Dutch. 
1795. Mungo Park ascends the Niger. 

1795. '^^^ English take Cape from the Dutch; restore it 1803; 

again captured 1806. 

1796. The English take Ceylon and Moluccas, also Guiana, from 

the Dutch. 

1796. Seat of Government of Upper Canada removed to Toronto. 

1797. The English take Trinidad from Spain, and remove Caribs 

from St. Vincent. 

1797. Tasmania found to be an Island. 

1798. Bass's Straits discovered. 

1798. Slave Amelioration Act and Catholic Emancipation Act 

passed by general legislature Windward Island ; both 
disallowed by Crown. 

1 799. Death of Washington. 

1799. Capture of Seringapatam. 

1800. Union of Great Britain and Ireland. 
1800. Malta placed in the hands of the British. 
1800. The English for a time occupy Perim. 



672 APPENDIX 

1 800. Province \yellesley occupied. 

1 80 1. Ceylon made a separate colony. 

1802. Guiana restored to the Dutch. 

1802. The English restore the Cape to the Dutch. 

I S02. Peshwa of Poona submits to " Subsidiary system," hence 

second Maratha War (i 802-1 804), with battles at Assaye 

(1802), Argaum, &c., and with result that Sindhia and 

Bhonsla yielded to System. 
1S02. Treaty of Amiens. England restores conquest except 

Trinidad and Ceylon. The title of King of France 

abandoned by England. 

802. Flinders discovered Port Phillip. 

803. Convicts sent to Van Diemen's Land. 
803. Louisiana purchased from the French. 
803. Occupation of Kandy and Guiana. 

803. The English take Tobago and St. Lucia. 

803. First newspaper established at New South Wales. 

803. Slavery abolished in Lower Canada. 

804. The English capture Goree. 

805. Convicts cease to be sent to Norfolk Island. 

806. November 22. Issue of Le Canudien, the first Canadian 

newspaper printed entirely in French. 

806. The English take the Cape of Good Hope. 

807. The English take St. Thomas and St. Croix. 
807. Abolition of the slave trade. 

807. The English take Heligoland from Danes. 
809. The English take Cayenne and Martinique. 
809. The English take Senegal. 
809. Kaffirs expelled from Zuurveldt and Rietfontein. 

809. First steamer on St. Lawrence River. 

810. The English take Guadaloupe and St. Eustace. 
810. Mauritius captured by British. 

810. Merino sheep introduced into New South Wales. 

812. United States declare war against England and invade 

Canada. 
812-13. Bathurst country explored. 

813. East India Company loses monopoly of Indian trade. 

814. December 24. War with America terminated by treaty of 

Ghent. 
814. The English keep Tobago and St. Lucia, and restore other 

conquests. 
814. British Guiana ceded to Great Britain. 
814. Peace of Paris. 
814. The Cape of Good Hope finally ceded to English. 

814. Goree restored to the French. 
814-15. Gurkha war. 

815. Ascension Iwland taken and garrisoned by Great Britain. 
815. Bonaparte conveyed to St. Helena. 

815. The English annex Candy. 

816. The English restore Java to Dutch. 
816. Algiers bomV)ardod by Exmouth. 

816. New settlement at Gambia by British merchants from 
Senegal. 



APPENDIX 673 

816. Tristan da Cuiilia annexed. 

817. Pindiiris conquered. 

817-18. Third Miinitlia War, endinc( in annexation of Poona and 
reduction of Holkar and Rajputana. 

818. Treaty between America and Canada respectinf^ fisheries. 

818. The English restore Malacca to Dutch. 

819. The Eniflish occupy Sinj^apore. 

820. Spain cedes Florida to United States. 
820. Cape Breton reannexed to Nova Scotia. 

820. Buenos Ay res tries to settle Falkland Isles. 

821. Afi'ican Company dissolved and its forts transferred to the 

Crown. 

823. Brisbane River discovered. 

823-28. Lord Amherst, Governor-General of India ; conquest of 
part of Burniah. 

824. War with Burmah. Rangoon taken. 
824. Convicts sent to Moreton Bay. 

824. Singapore ceded by Sultan of Johor. 

825. Tasmania made a separate colony. 

825. The English get from Dutch Malacca in exchange for 

Sumatra. 

826. Ashantis defeated at Accra. 
826. Annexation of Assam. 

826. Convicts sent to Norfolk Island. 

826. New South Wales tries to colonise New Zealand. 

826-29. Colonists settle on Swan River. 

828. Gold Coast dropped by Government. 

828. American tariff imposing heavy duties on British goods. 
828-35. Lord W. C. Bentinck, Governor-General of India ; puts 

down Thagi and Sati ; Macaulay is legal member of his 
council. 
828-31. Sturt's expeditions into South Australia. 

829. Settlement made in Western Australia. 

829. Perth founded. 

830. Mormons first appear. 

830. Ports in America reopened to British commerce. 

831. Insurrection of negroes in Jamaica. 

831. Americans destroy settlement (m Falkland Isles. 

832. Insurrection of negroes in Trinidad. 

832. Constitution given to Newf(mndland. 

833. Act of Parliament opening the trade to India and China. 
833. Abolition of slaves. 

833. The English colonise Falkland Isles. 

833. Anti-Slavery Society established in United States. 

834. Toronto incorporated. 

834. Crown takes over St. Helena. 

835. Settlement at Port Philliix 

835-36. Dutch " trek " into Natal, and defeat Zulus. 

836. First railroad in Canada, La Prairie to St. John's. 

836. South Australia colonised ; Melbourne and Adelaide founded. 

837. Singapore made seat of government of Straits Settlements. 

837. The Dutch Boers migrate to Natal. 

838. Negro population of Jamaica emancipated (310,000). 

V 2 U 



674 APPENDIX 

838-39. Eyre's expeditions (Australia). 
839. Annexation of Aden. 
839. New Zealand colonised. 

839. Republic of Natal proclaimed by the Boers. Maritzburg 

founded. 
839-40. Native chiefs cede New Zealand to British. Wellington 
and Auckland founded. 

840. Sir James Brooke establishes the independent State of 

Sarawak. 
840-41. Eyre's last expedition (Australia). 
840-41. New Canadian Constitution. Upper and Lower Canada 

united. 

841. Convicts to New South Wales cease. 

841. Hong Kong ceded to the English. Treaty ports opened. 

841. New Zealand becomes a separate colony. 

841. Insurrection at Kabul, followed by disastrous retreat. 

842. Queensland opened to colonists. Copper found in South 

Australia. Sturt's journey to the central region of 
Australia. 
842. Algiers annexed to France. 

842. August 9. Settlement of the boundary line between Canada 

and the United States by the Ashburton Treaty. 

843. Sind annexed Gwalior captured. 
843. Strzelecki explores Gipp's Land. 
843. Victoria, B.C., founded by James Douglas. Geological 

survey established by Government. First iron steamer 

in Canada launched at Montreal. 
843. Natal annexed by the English. 

843. The Gambia made a separate settlement from Sierra Leone. 
843. Government resumes control of the Gold Coast. 
844-45. Leichhardt's first expedition (Australia). 
845. Jamaica railway opened. 

845. Orange Free State annexed; Pretorius leads Boers to 
Transvaal. 

845-46. Sikh War : Battle of Mudki. 

846. Labuan ceded to Great Britain by the Sultan of Borneo. 

846. Treaty of Lahore ; end of first Sikh war. 

847. Navigation laws repealed. Electric telegra})!! line established 
between Quebec, Montreal, and Toronto. 

847. Bishopric of Cape Town founded. 

847. Libeiia declared an independent lepublic. 

848. Leichhardt's last expedition (Australia). 
848. Aniiuxation of tlie Orange River territory. 

848. Turks and Caicos Islands placed under the Government of 
Jamaica. 

849. Canadian trade opened to woild. Vancouver's Isle made a 
Crown colony. 

849. Satcira ainiexed. I'luijab annexed. Duli'p Singh pensioned. 

849. Cape colonists object to convicts being .sent. 

850. The Straits Settlements separated fioni Bengal. 
850. I»oml)ay railway coimncnciHl. 
850. Russell ;ill(tws certain Australian Colonies to choose mode of 

{^oveinmi'iit. 



APPENDIX 675 

850. Convicts sent to West Australia. 

850. Gold discovered in Australia. 

850. The tirst sod of the Northern Ktiilway (Canada) turned by 

Lady El<,dn. 
850-53. KaHir Wars: En^dish buy Danish possessions uii (Jold 

Coast. 

850. Victoria made a separate colony. 

851. The (jlreat Exhibition at London. Submarine telegraph 

from Dover to Calais. 
851. Prince Edward's Isle sjets responsible f^overnment. 
851. Kinj.'- of Laj^os (Kosoko) expelled by Britisii on account of 

his connection with the .slave trade. 
851. Transfer of the control of the postal system from the 

British to the provincial Governments, and adoption of 

a uniform rate of posta<ie (Canada). 

851. Gold found in Victoria, which is now separated from New 

South Wales. 

852. Second Burmese War. Pef;u conquered. 
852. Newfoundland <^ets responsible ^overmnent. 
852. New Zealand obtains responsible tfovernment. 
852. Transvaal recofjnised as independent. 

852. Annexation of Pe<^u. 

852. Commencement of the Grand 'J'runk Railway. 

853. First ocean steamer arrived at C^)uebec. 

853. Convicts cease to be sent to Van Diemen's Land, which now 

takes the name of Tasmania. 
853. Oranj^^e llepublic acknowledged. 
853. District of British KaJi'raria formed. 

853. Constitution f^ranted to the Cape Colony. 

854. Kuria Muria Islands ceded. 

854. New Constitution i^iven to Jamaica. 

854. Orauffe Free State restored. 

854. Reciprocity Treat}' with the United States and Canada. 

854. Colonial and War Secretaryships separated. 

855. Victorian and New South Wales constitutions formed. 

855. Responsible government granted to Newfoundland. 

856. Natal separated from Cape and made a Crown colony. 
856. Oudh annexed. 

856. Tasmania and South Australia receive responsible govern- 
ment. 

856. Most of inhabitants of Pitcairn's Island moved to Norfolk 
Island, which ceased to receive convicts. 

856. German Legion ivonx Crimea arrive at Cape. 

856. Treaty of Paris. 

856. Canadian Council made elective. 

856. Grand Trunk Railway opened. 

857. Perim occupied. 

857-58. Great Sepoy nuitiny : Sikhs kn'al. 
858-64. Livingstone's journeys in Zambesia. 

858. Ottawa made capital of Canada. 
858. Gold found in British Columbia. 

858. Adoption of the decimal currenc}' in Canada. 
858. Aiuiexation c>f Oudh. 



^7^ APPENDIX 

1858. Gladstone sent as Commissioner to Ionian Islands. 
1858. Queen Victoria proclaimed Sovereign of India. 
1858. Crown takes over India from East India Company; Mutiny- 
suppressed; cost ^40,000,000. 
1858. Suez Canal commenced. 

1858. First Atlantic cable laid; connection broken after first 

message. 

1859. Queensland separated from New South Wales and receives 

constitution. 
1859. Fiji vainly ofters cession. 
1859. The Punjab made a distinct Presidency. 
i860. Kowloon, near Hong Kong, ceded. 
i860. War: England and France i'. China. 
i860. First railway from Cape Town. 
i860. Winnipeg founded. 
1 86 1. Lagos ceded to English. 

1 86 1. Boers in Transvaal form themselves into a separate State. 
1 86 1. Stuart, M'Kinlay, and Landsborough cross Australia. 

1 86 1. King Docemo cedes Lagos to British Crown. 

1862. British Columbia obtains responsible government. 
1865. Rising in Jamaica ; put down by Governor Eyre. 

1865. Wellington made capital of New Zealand. 

1866. Fenian invasion of Canada from United States. 
1866. Vancouver's Isle joined to Columbia. 

1866. Inter-colonial Exhibition at Melbourne. 

1866. Jamaica's Constitution surrendered. 

1866. Atlantic cable laid by the (-heat Eastern. 

1867. Twelve islands oft' Angra Pequena annexed ; added to Cape 

in 1874. 

1 867. Straits Settlements become a Crown colony. 

1867. Diamonds found near the Orange River. 

1867. February 10. The British North American Act passed by 
the Imperial Legislature. July i . Union of the provinces 
of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick under the 
name of the Dominion of Canada. The names of Upper 
and Lower Canada were changed to Ontario and Quebec 
respectively. 

1867. Russian America purchased by United States. 

1868. Convicts to West Australia cease. 
1868. Peninsula of Little Aden purchased. 

1868. Abyssinian expedition. 

1869. Suez Canal opened (Nov.). 

1869. Juno 22. Bill passed providing for the government of tlie 
North- West Territories. 

1869. November 19. Deed of surrender signed, Hudson's Bay 

Ctiinpany's sale and transfer to her Majesty. 

1870. Inter-colonial Exliil)ition at Sydney. 
1870. Red River rising under Riel (Canada). 
1870. Manitoba joins Dominion. 

1870. July 15. Addition of the North-West Territories to the 

Dominion (Canada). 

1871. Britisli Columbia joins tlie Dominion. 
1 87 1. Leeward Isles federated. 



APPENDIX 6Ty 

871. Treaty of Wasliintf ton ; Alabama arbitration. 

871. Pacific Railway surveys bo<fun ; Post-cards issued. 

871. Gricjualand and Basutnland annexed to Cape. 

871. Dutch possessions on (it>ld Coast accpiired. 

872. Lord Mayo murdered in India. 

872. Cape receiv'es responsible government. 

872-73. Giles's expeditions ; discovers Lake Amadeus (Australia). 

873. Prince Edward's Isle joins the Dominion. 

873. Turks and Caicos Islands definitely annexed to Jamaica. 
873. November 7. Mackenzie Administration formed (Canada) ; 

Island of St. Juan awarded to the United States by the 

Emperor of Germany. 

873. Port Moi'esby in New Guinea discovered. 

874. Fiji annexed. 
874. War with Ashanti. 

874. Sir Andrew Clarke arranges Pangkor Treaty (Straits 

Settlements). 

875. The Prince of Wales visits India. 

876. Katt'raria, ttc, annexed. 

876. Sir H. B. Frere, Governor, opens Exhibition at Cape Town. 
876. Opening of the Inter-colonial Railwaj' from Quebec to 
Halifax. 

876. North-West Province separated from Manitoba. 

877. South African Confederacy formed. 
877. Transvaal annexed. 

877. The Queen proclaimed Empress of India. 

877. Ma3\ Medical Council of Great Britain decided to recognise 

Canadian degrees. 

878. Port of Walfish Bay proclaimed British ; annexed in 1884. 
878. Treaty of Berlin. 

878. Cyprus placed under British protection. 

878. Freedom of Native press in Indfti abolished. 

879. Cavagnari slain at Kabul ; English invade Afghanistan. 
879. Sydney International Exhibition. 

879. Ztilu War ; Rorke's Drift ; Ulundi : Cetewayo captmed. 
879. Adoption of a protective tariff, otherwise called the 
" National Policy " (Canada). 

879. Colonial Defence Connnission appointed. 

880. Diamond Field annexed. 

880. Griqualand West incorporated with Cape Colony. 

880. Melbourne International Exhibition. 

880. Boers of the Ti-ansvaal in revolt (December). 

880. General Robei-ts' march from Kabul to Kandahar. 

881. The North Borneo Company get charter. 
881. Defeat at Laing's Nek and Majuba Hill. 
881. Self-government granted to Transvaal. 
881. Canadian Pacific Railway commenced. 

883. Queensland tries to annex part of New Guinea. 

883. Completion of the direct railway between Melbourne and 

Sydney. 
883-84. Calcutta International Exhibition. 

883. Toronto Industrial Exhibition. 

884. English Protectorate instituted over part of New Guinea. 



678 APPENDIX 

[8S4. Walfish Bay joined to Cape.' 

[884. Basutoland made Crown colony. 

[884. Oil River (Niger Coast) Protectorate established. 

1884. Constitution of Jamaica changed. 
[885. Rising in the North-West suppressed. 
[885. The Canadian Pacific Railway completed. 
[885. Tembuland, &c., annexed to Cape. 

1885. The North Borneo Protectorate established, including 
Brunei and Sarawak. 

[885. Windward Isles federated. 

[885. Protectorate over British New Guinea proclaimed. 

[885. Death of Gordon. 

[885. Riel's rebellion suppressed by Canadians. 

[886. Annexation of Upper Burmah. 

[886. Socotra annexed. 

[886. Upper Burmah annexed • 

[886. Gold discovered in Western Australia. 

[886. Anglo-German Treaty as to East Africa and Niger. 

[ 886. Niger Company receive charter. 

t886. May 4. Opening of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in 

London. 
[887. Zululand annexed. 
[887. New constitution given to Malta. 
[887. British Protectorate over Somali Coast proclaimed. 
[887. Toronto Industrial Exhibition. 
[888. Part of New Guinea annexed. 
t888. East African Company obtain charter. 
[888. Fishery Treaty between (iroat Jiritain and United States; 

but not ratified. 
[888. British Government assumes protectorate over State of 

North Borneo. 
[889. Centennial Exliibition at Melbourne. 
(889. Christmas Island placed under the government of the 

Straits Settlements. 
[889. Nyassaland Protectorate established. 
[889. Royal Charter granted to Uritisli South African Company, 

1889. Tobago joined witii Trinidad in government. 
[890. Labuan incoi-j^orated in North Borneo. 
[890. Swaziland independence guaranteed. 

[890. Anglo-(>ei'iiian agreement as to East Africa. 

1890. Anglo-French agreement as to Niger. 

(890. Responsible government granted to Western Australia. 

1890. Anglo-German agi-eenient signed July i ; English Pro- 
tectorate at Zanzil)ar; cession of Heligoland to (lerniany. 

1890. July 22. International Peace Conference of members of 
European Legislatures at the Hotel Mc'tropole ; Lord 
Hershall, chairman. 

[890. August 6. Anglo-French agreement (frontier of Niger) 
signed. 

[890. August 9. Heligoland transferred to Germany. 

1890. December 11. De])utation from North (}u(Hnis];ind, respect- 

ing .separation of Noi'tli and South (,)ui;enslan<I. 

1891. Jamaica International Exhibition. 



APPEXDIX 679 

1 89 1. Earl of Kintore crosses the continent of Australia. 
1891. January i. Uniform Colonial Postal rate (2.',d.) adopted. 
1891. January 2. National Australian Federation Convention 
opened at Sydney ; Sir Henry Parkes, President. 

1891. March 3. United States Cont^ress pass Copyrif^ht Bill. 

1892. February 29. Treaty of Washington (Behring Sea providing 

for arbitration as to seal fishing. 
1892. King Thebaw removed to India. 
1892. Russians appear on the Pamirs. 

1892. September 28. Legislative Council of New Brunswick 

abolished. 

1893. November 2. MatabeleWar: Bulawayo destroyed. 

1893. Legislative Council and Assembly of Prince Edward Island 

merged into one body. 
1893. Natal obtains responsible government. 
1 893. 'Defeat of Matabeles by South African Company. 
1895. British Bechuanaland incorporated with Cape. 

1895. December. Jameson's Ilaicl. 

1896. January i. Defeat of Jameson. 

1896. AshantiWar: Coomassie taken, January 17. 

1897. DiauKmd Jubilee. 

1897. Zululand included with Natal. 

1897. February 2. Anglo- Venezuelan Treaty of Arbitration signed 

at Washington by Sir Julian Pauncefote, British Am- 
bassador, and Seuor Jose Andrade, Venezuelan Minister. 

1 898. Soudan War : Khartoum retaken, September 2. 

1898. Christmas Colonial Penny Postage inaugurated. 

1899. April 8. Messages sent to France l)y wireless telegraphy. 
1899. Peace Conference at the Hague, Maj^ 17 to July 29. 

1899. Transvaal War begins October 9. President Kruger's 
ultimatum. 

1899. November 24. Death of the Khalifa. 

1900. January 4. Nigeria taken over from the Royal Niger 

Company. 

I goo. Transvaal War. Kimberley relieved February 14 ; Ladj-smith 
relieved March i; IJloemfontein taken March 13; Mafe- 
king relieved May 1 7 ; Pretoria surrenders Jinie i . 

1900. Orange Free State proclaimed a British colony May 27. 

1900. September. South Afiican Repniilic proclaimed a British 

colony September i. 

1901. January i. Colonial penny postage commences at New 

Zealand. 
1 90 1. January i. The Federation of the Australian Colonies 

inaugurated at Sydney, 
1 90 1. January 22. Death of Queen Victoria. 
1 90 1. March i. Postal telegraphic and telephonic service of 

Australia transferred to the Connnonwealth. 
1901. May 9. Duke of Coinwall opens the first Parliament of the 

Commonwealth of Australia. 



CENSUS RETURNS 

The Census Returns for 1901 is not yet complete, but the 
following figures (some unrevised) have been issued : — 

India .... . . 294,266,701 

British India .... 231,085,132 

Native States .... 63,181,569 

Provinces. — Madras, 38,208,609; Bombay, 18,584,496; Ben- 
gal, 74,713,020; North -West Provinces and Oudh, 
47,696,324 ; Punjab, 22,449,484 ; Burma (Lower), 
5,371,328; Burma (CJpper), 3,840,833; Central Provinces, 
9>845»3i8; Assam, 6,122,201 ; Berar, 2,752,418; Ajmer- 
Merwara, 476,330; Coorg, 180,461; Baluchistan, 810,811; 
Andama;ns, 24,499. 

Capifah of Province><. — Calcutta and suburbs, 1,121,664 
Madras, 509,397; Bombay, 770,843; Karachi, 115,407 
Allahabad, 175,748; Lucknow, 263,951 ; Lahore, 120,058 
Rangoon, 232,326; Mandalay, 182,498; Nagpur, 124,599 
Ajraer, 75,759. 

The census for India includes the whole of the Empire 
except the West Manglun and tlie trans-Salween Northern 
Shan States, and certain tracts of the Baluchistan Agency, the 
area affected by disturbances. Many parts of India are in- 
cluded in the census for the first time. Tlie population has 
risen since 1891 by 2.42 per cent, (or not including the tracts 
now enumerated for the first time by 1.49 per cent.). In 
British India there has been an increase of 4.44 per cent., in 
the Native States there has been a decrease of 4.34 per cent., 
against an increase 1881-1891 in British India of 9.68 per 
cent., and in the Native States of 16.58 per cent. 

Ceylon 3,576,990 



Ilong Kong 
Straits Settlements 
Fed Malay States 
Victoria (Hong Kong) 



680 



283,975 

572,249 

678,595 
181,918 



APPENDIX 68 1 

Canada, 5,338,883: Ontario, 2,167,978; Quebec, 1,620,974; 
British Columbia, 190,000; Manitoba, 246,464; The 
Territories, 220,000; Nova Scotia, 459,116; New Bruns- 
wick, 331,093; Prince Edward Island, 103,258. 

Some of the principal Municipal Cities : — Montreal, 266,826 ; 
Toronto, 207,971; Quebec, 68,834; Ottawa, 59,902; 
Hamilton, 52,550; Winnipeg, 42,336; Halifax, 40,787; 
St. John, 40,711 ; Vancouver, 26,196; Victoria, 20,821 ; 
Charlottetown, 1 2,080. 

The returns for Canada does not include the extreme 
northern portions of Quebec and Ontario, and the unorganised 
territories of Athabasca, Franklin, Keewatin, Mackenzie, 
Ungava, and Yukon. 

Baliamas, 53,735: St. Vincent, 47,548; Virgin Island, 4908 
St. Kitts, 29,782; Nevis, 12,774; Anguilla, 3890 
Antigua, 34,178; Montserrat, 12,215; Redouda, 18 
Dominica, 28,894; Trinidad, 251,009. 

Capitals. — Kingston (St. Vincent), 21,377; St. John's 
(Antigua), 9262 ; Plymouth (Montserrat), 146 1 ; Roseau 
(Dominica), 5764; Belize (British Honduras), 91 13; 
British Honduras, 37,479 ; Gibraltar, 27,460 : Southern 
Rhodesia: Mashonaland, 5037; Matabeleland, 10,816; 
New South Wales, 1,359,943; Victoria, 1,199,692; 
Queensland, 503,266 ; South Australia, 358,097 ; Western 
Australia, 182,553; Tasmania, 172,000; New Zealand 
(ex. Maoris), 772,455; Maoris, 43,101. Capitals with 
Suburbs. — Sydney, 488,382; ISIelbourne, 494,129; Bris- 
bane, 119,428; Adelaide, 162,261; Perth, 36,199; 
Hobart Town, ... ; Wellington, 49,344; Isle of Man, 
55,608; Douglas, 19,525; Ramsey, 4866; England, 
30,805,466; AVales, 1,720,609; Scotlanti, 4,472,000; 
Ireland, 4,456,546; United Kingdom, 41,454,621; 
London (County of), 4,536,063. 



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