His coverage had brought Great Britain to the verge of disaster in Afghanistan: the credit score of reasserting the superiority of British arms was deferred until his successors had taken office. A Russian envoy was sent to Kabul, where Shere Ali, who had succeeded his father Dost Mahommed in 1863, was amir; and the British government, alarmed at this new embarrassment, decided on sending a mission to the Afghan capital. Sir Bartle Frere, who had gained distinction in India, and was sent out by Lord Beaconsfield’s authorities to the Cape, kept again the award; and, although he finally communicated it to Cetewayo, thought it desirable to demand the disbandment of the Zulu military. Zulus, probably the most highly effective and warlike of the South African natives, who beneath their ruler, Cetewayo, had organized a formidable army. Weary of the condition of anarchy which existed in the republic, many inhabitants of the Transvaal were ready to welcome its annexation to Great Britain-a proposal favoured by the colonial secretary, Lord Carnarvon, who wished to federate the South African states, after the way during which the North American colonies had develop into by confederation the Dominion of Canada.
Imperialism, which had been excited by Lord Beaconsfield’s coverage in 1878, and by the prospect of a war with a fantastic European power, fell into discredit when it degenerated into a contemporary expedition into Afghanistan, and an inglorious war with a savage African tribe. War broke out between the Transvaal Republic and some of the powerful of these native chieftains, Sikukuni; and the Transvaal was worsted within the wrestle. Dr Jameson, the administrator of Rhodesia, accompanied by some British officers, truly invaded the Transvaal. The British government refused to be a occasion to this memorandum, which in consequence grew to become abortive. The British government refused to put up with an affront of this variety, and their envoy, supported by an army, continued his advance. The word was accepted by the three continental empires, but Great Britain refused in the primary occasion to assent to it, and only ultimately consented at the want of the Porte, whose statesmen seem to Bulgarian “atrocities.” have imagined that the nominal co-operation of England would have the effect of restraining the action of other powers.
One celebration was led by Disraeli, who was purported to characterize the normal coverage of England of maintaining the rule of the Turk in any respect hazards; the other, inspired by the instance of Gladstone, was resolved in any respect costs to terminate oppression, but was at the identical time distrusted as not directly assisting the formidable views by which the Eastern coverage of Russia had always been animated. In a phrase which turned well-known he declared that the one remedy for the European provinces of the Porte was to turn out the Ottoman authorities “bag and baggage.” All England was directly arrayed into two camps. In the presence of a grave hazard, Count Andrassy, the Austrian minister, drew up a note which was afterwards known by his title, declaring that the Porte had failed to hold into effect the promises of reform which she had made, and that some mixed motion on the part of Europe was essential to compel her to do so. The three northern powers thereupon agreed upon what was recognized as the Berlin Memorandum, by which they demanded an armistice, and proposed to observe over the completion of the reforms which the Porte had promised. Through the insistence of Russia an armistice was agreed upon; and Lord Beaconsfield-for Disraeli had now been raised to the peerage-endeavoured to utilize the respiratory space by organizing a convention of the great powers at Constantinople, which was attended on behalf of Great Britain by Lord Salisbury.