Page 156.-"Have you any smoke soundings?" etc. Cf. note to p. 20. Page 160.-The Slave Trade. The first Englishman to engage in the slave trade was Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595). Large numbers of negro slaves were conveyed from Africa to America, and slavery was legalized in the British Colonies. Yet as soon as a slave set foot on English soil he was a free man. A society for the suppression of the slave trade was formed in London in 1787, and in 1792 a motion was carried in Parliament to abolish the slave trade by degrees. The General Abolition Bill, making all slave trade illegal in our colonies, was passed in 1807. A Bill was passed in 1833, enacting that slavery was to cease on August 1, 1834, and the emancipation of the slaves throughout the British colonies was accomplished by 1838. Slavery still exists in the Mahommedan countries of Africa under British protection, and the Moslem slave trade is conducted with very great cruelty. But it is to be hoped that the increase of British influence in Egypt, the Soudan, and the Congo Free State will speedily put an end to the wicked and degrading commerce. Page 169.-Springbuck. An antelope found in Africa to the south of the Zambesi, generally inhabiting the karroos or dry sandy plains. Page 173.-(Sir) Henry Morton Stanley, the African explorer, began his connection with the American newspaper, the New York Herald, in 1867. In 1869 the proprietor, Mr. Gordon Bennett, sent him to Africa to find Livingstone. In 1874 he undertook an expedition to complete Livingstone's work, and traced the course of the Congo. He founded the Congo Free State, under the auspices of the King of the Belgians, in 1879, and in 1886 received from America command of the expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha. He accomplished his mission, and returned to England in 1890. Page 178.-The Edict of Nantes, which allowed the Huguenots in France to worship as they pleased, was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV. The French Protestants then fled to various countries. Page 178.-Negro Emancipation Act. Cf. note to p. 160. Page 180.-Sir Harry Smith (1788-1860) was Governor of the Cape 1847-1852. The towns of Harrismith in the Orange River State, and Ladysmith in Natal, commemorate his Governorship. Page 180.-Lord Grey. He was Under-Secretary for the Colonies 1831-1833 (during his father's Ministry), and became Colonial Secretary in 1846. Page 180.-Sir George Cathcart (1794-1854) became Governor of the Cape in 1852. He fell in the Crimean war at the battle of Inkerman (1854). Page 180.-Sir George Clerk (1787-1867), statesman, was VicePresident of the Board of Trade, 1845-1846. Page 180.-Sir George Grey (1799-1882) was Governor of the Cape, 1860-1861. Page 181.-Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873), statesman and novelist, was Colonial Secretary, 1858-1859. He helped to establish the colonies of British Columbia and Queensland. Page 181.-Sir Philip Wodehouse was Governor of the Cape, 1861-1870. Page 182.-Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859), author of the "Confessions of an English Opium-eater," wrote most of his works in the form of essays contributed to the magazines. Page 183.-Fuit Ilium. Troy was. Cf. Virgil, "Æneid," II. 324. Page 184.—William Wordsworth (1770-1850), in his “ Sonnets to Liberty" (1802-1816), gives expression to some of the feelings that animated English hearts during the struggle with Napoleon. Page 184." With pomp of waters, unwithstood." A line from the "Civil Wars between the two Houses of Lancaster and York" (1595-1602), the most important poem of Samuel Daniel (1582– 1619), one of the group of Elizabethan patriotic poets. Wordsworth greatly admired his work. Page 185.-In his tract “The Convention of Cintra,” Wordsworth expressed his horror of Napoleon's despotic rule and lust of conquest. Some see in the pamphlet the finest piece of political eloquence since Burke. Page 185.-The several independent sovereignties of Italy... to form themselves into a mighty people. Wordsworth has proved himself a true prophet. The union of Germany, and the union of Italy, each under one ruler, were accomplished in 1871, to the lasting benefit of each country. Page 186. The progress of those arts, etc. In 1798 Wordsworth had written: "For a multitude of causes unknown to former times, are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and, unfitting it for all voluntary exertion, to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor. The most effective of these causes are the great national events daily taking place, and the increasing accumulation of men in cities.” Page 189.-Robert Southey (1774-1843), poet, formed with Coleridge, in 1794, the scheme of founding a Pantisocracy" in some delightful part of the new back settlements" of America. Twelve gentlemen of good education and liberal principles, each to furnish £125, with twelve ladies, were to form the colony, and it was imagined that the labour of each man for two or three hours a day would suffice to support it. The produce was to be common property; there was to be a good library, and the ample leisure was to be devoted to study, discussion, and to the education of children on a settled system. The women were to be employed in taking care of the infant children and in other suitable occupations, not neglecting the cultivation of their minds. Every one was to enjoy his own religious and political opinions, provided they did not encroach on the rules made for the well-being of the society. The plan, however, was never carried out. Later on, Robert Owen established a sort of socialist colony in Indiana known as "New Harmony," but it was not successful. Southey was interested throughout his life in colonization, and thought that it should be more systematically carried on. He was much roused also by the Napoleonic wars. They inspired his "Life of Nelson," his best prose work; his "History of the Peninsular War," his "Curse of Kehama "—Kehama probably representing Napoleon— and his "Ode written during the Negotiations for Peace in 1814,” which has been criticized as the finest occasional poem since Milton's sonnet "On the late Massacre in Piedmont." Page 191.-George Borrow (1803-1881) learnt the gipsy tongue and himself wandered through England as a gipsy. Lavengro is full of autobiographical interest; and as his father was a captain of militia during his childhood, he naturally heard much about the Napoleonic wars. Page 192.-Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), author, attacked the shams and corruptions of modern society in "Chartism” (1839), "Past and Present" (1843), and "Latter Day Pamphlets" (1850). In "Past and Present" Carlyle advocated many things, from Imperial Federation to Public Washhouses, that are now familiar. Page 193.-Red-tapist. Red-tape is a term used to describe official formality, so called because lawyers and government officials use red tape to fasten their papers together. Charles Dickens introduced the phrase. Page 193.-Nomadism. Wandering about. Pastoral tribes who had no fixed residence were called nomades by the Greeks. Colonial governors are only appointed for a term of years. Page 196.—Fiat.—In law a fiat is an order of the Court directing that something be done. Latin, fiat, let it be done. Page 197.-Physical-force Chartist. A movement for the extension of the political power of the working classes arose in this country in 1838, when a "People's Charter was drawn up. It came to a head in 1848; but the monster meeting convened by its leaders proved a failure, and it gradually died out. Page 198.-The Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–1881), as Mr. Benjamin Disraeli first became Prime Minister in 1868. He held the same office again 1874-1880, and during that time bought a share of the Suez Canal and conferred on Queen Victoria the title of Empress of India. He pursued throughout an "Imperial " policy. Page 202.-The attempts of Liberalism... Empire of England. There was in 1872, as there is at the present time, a party of persons now called "Little Englanders," who believed it would be better for England to cut her colonies adrift, and confine herself solely to the good government and general improvement of Great Britain and Ireland. Page 202.-Incubus. Anything that weighs heavily on the mind, properly, a nightmare. Page 204.-Cæsar. Julius Cæsar (102 B.C.-44 B.C.) Page 204.-Charlemagne (742-814), King of the Franks, and Emperor of the Romans, ruled an empire that extended from Spain to Saxony. Page 205.-Lord Tennyson. The verse of Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) expresses in the highest degree the patriotic spirit at its best. He loved his country, his sovereign, his race, and looked with deep satisfaction on the manner in which little England grew into Greater Britain. He regarded "Our ocean-empire, with her boundless homes as the true signs of England's greatness. Q ... Settlement of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh JAMES I. ... 1583 1585 1600 First permanent English settlement made in America by the Virginia Company at Jamestown Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in America Formation of the "New England Confederation " CROMWELL. ... 1608 1620 1639 1643 |