Position of Great Britain Abroad

Of great importance and interest was the position of Great Britain abroad. Since 1885, other European countries, notably Germany and France, had been increasing their commerce and adding to their colonies. They had extended their trade and sought new markets for the commodities they had to sell. Wherever there were opportunities for a market, a sphere of influence, or an addition of territory, there such powers as Great Britain, Germany, France, and Russia were disputing, generally peacefully, for possession.

By 1900, Germany had colonies in eastern Africa, western Africa, and the islands of the Pacific, had a port in China, and had obtained considerable influence in Asia Minor and Palestine. France had possessions in northern and western Africa, in Tonquin, Annam, and Cambodia, had a port in China, and was seeking for openings in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Russia had carried her great Siberian railway to the Pacific, was pressing against China from the north and controlling Manchuria, was pushing forward by way of Transcaspia to the frontier of India, was extending her influence in Persia, and was cooperating with France at Muscat and in Somaliland. Germany, Austria, and Italy were united in a triple alliance, and France and Russia in a dual alliance, for mutual support and the preservation of peace. Great Britain stood alone, the rival of all, yet on peaceful terms with all.

Diplomacy underwent a change. Foreign relations were no longer limited to the European continent. After 1885, foreign ministers were interested, not only in questions concerning dynasties and treaties, but in colonial boundaries, spheres of influence, rights of possession, trade routes and markets, tariffs and tariff treaties. In the great majority of cases, negotiation, agreement, arbitration, and compromise were substituted for wars. In many important crises the powers acted together in common accord, in order to promote peace and to avoid war.

Beginning with the Berlin conference of 1885, the European powers were able to complete the partition of Africa in fourteen years, without war. Though some of the powers, notably Great Britain and France, became involved in disputes that seemed to threaten war, such as the Niger difficulty in 1898, and the Fashoda affair in 1896-1898, yet common sense in the end prevailed, and the troubles were settled peacefully. In 1895 a controversy arose between Great Britain and the United States over the question of the boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela. For the moment the matter looked serious; but Lord Salisbury, aware that the territory was not worth fighting for, consented to submit the matter to arbitration. In October, 1899, a decision was rendered by a board sitting at Paris, and Great Britain received nearly all she had claimed. Great Britain, Germany, and the United States referred a dispute regarding the Samoan Islands to King Oscar of Sweden, who, in 1902, rendered a decision which all received without demurring.

In 1898 a conference was summoned at The Hague to discuss plans for the preservation of peace and the reduction of armaments of war. It accomplished little in those particulars ; but it established a tribunal of arbitration for all civilized countries. This tribunal had its first case in 1902, when it was called upon to settle a dispute between Mexico and the United States; and its second case in 1903, when Great Britain, Germany, and Venezuela agreed to put into its hands a serious difficulty regarding Venezuela's indebtedness to the first two powers.

In 1900, when a Boxer uprising in China roused the attention of the civilized world, the powers, with a harmony rarely exhibited before, suppressed the murderous revolt; and in the conference that followed, from August, 1900, to September, 1901, settled amicably the intricate and difficult questions involved. Though Great Britain and Russia came into diplomatic conflict over many questions, nevertheless all difficulties were overcome with no more serious consequences than delay. To special commissions were left certain complicated questions concerning tariff duties on imports into China, and the revision of the trade treaties. The success of the European concert in China closed a noteworthy period of seventeen years of diplomacy, during which scores of difficult questions were settled peacefully that in older days might easily have led to war.

Great Britain's Dominions beyond the Seas: Egypt

The attempt of the Continental powers to obtain markets aroused Great Britain to a new interest in her colonies, and to new activities in various parts of her great empire.

In Egypt the recovery of the Sudan was begun in 1896, when the sirdar, General Kitchener, advanced into Dongola and gradually pushed southward toward Khartum. On April 8, 1898, was fought the battle of the Atbara; on September 2, that of Omdurman. By these two British victories the power of the dervishes was broken and the Sudan restored to Egypt. On January 5, 1899, was laid the corner-stone of the Gordon Memorial College at Khartum; and a few weeks afterward a convention was signed with Egypt, giving Great Britain control in the equatorial region south of the 22° of north latitude. In March the boundary between the French and British spheres was defined, and the last cause of difficulty of that kind seemed to be removed. Great Britain had long ago promised to withdraw from Egypt, but had stayed, despite the protests of France and Turkey. Though breaking her pledged word, she has without doubt contributed to the material and moral improvement of the people who inhabit the valley and delta of the Nile.

Australian Federation

In Australia a movement looking to the federation of the colonies of that island continent had been begun as early as 1883. For eighteen years the matter was considered, and the efforts of those interested were continued. But union was difficult to effect. Finally, in 1899, a federal constitution was adopted by all the colonies of Australasia, except New Zealand, and in June, 1900, this constitution was accepted by the British House of Commons. Thus was created the Federal Commonwealth of Australia, under the crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. With the opening of the first federal parliament at Melbourne, in May, 1901, a new era in the history of this part of the British world began.