Rhodes, then Prime Minister of Cape Colony, with having helped on the raid.  From this time the feeling of hatred between the Boers and the “Outlanders” grew more and more intense.  Lord Salisbury, the Conservative Prime Minister, believed, with his party, that the time had come for decisive action on the part of the Government.  The fires so long smoldered now burst into flame, and England resolved to fight to maintain her authority in the Transvaal.

War began in the autumn of 1899, and the Orange Free State united with the Transvaal against Great Britain. (See map facing p. 428.) The Boers took up arms for independence.  The English forces under Lord Roberts began fighting, first in behalf of the “Outlanders,” next to keep the British Empire together, and, finally, “to extend English law, liberty, and civilization.”

Mr. Chamberlain, who was in Lord Salisbury’s Cabinet (S534), agreed with his chief that the sword must settle the question, but he said that the contest in South Africa would be “a long war, a bitter war, and a costly war.”  Events proved the truth of part of his prediction.  The contest was certainly “bitter,” for it carried sorrow and death into many thousand homes.  It was “costly,” too, for the total expense to England amounted to nearly 200,000,000 pounds.

England finally overthrew and formally annexed (1901) the two Boer republics, aggregating over one hundred and sixty-seven thousand square miles.  But to accomplish that work she was forced to send two hundred and fifty thousand men to South Africa,—­the largest army she ever put into a field in the whole course of her history.  The great majority of the English people believed that the war was inevitable.  But there was an active minority who insisted that it was really undertaken in behalf of the South African mine owners.  They did not hesitate to condemn the “Jingo” policy[1] of the Government as disastrous to the best interests of the country.  In the midst of the discussion Queen Victoria died (January 22, 1901).  The Prince of Wales succeeded to the crown under the title of King Edward VII.

[1] Lord Beaconsfield, the Conservative Prime Minister (1874-1880),
made several petty wars in South Africa and in Afghanistan.  A popular
music-hall song glorified his work, declaring: 
                “We don’t want to fight, but by Jingo, if we do,
                 We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men,
                 We’ve got the money, too.”

624.  Summary.

Queen Victoria’s reign of sixty-three years—­the longest in English history—­was remarkable in many ways.

The chief political events were: 

1.  The establishment of the practical supremacy of the House of
   Commons, shown by the fact that the Sovereign was now obliged to
   give up the power of removing the Prime Minister or members of his
   Cabinet without the consent of the House, or of retaining them