contrary to its desire.
2.  The broadening of the basis of suffrage and the extension of the
   principle of local self-government.
3.  The abolition of the requirement of property qualification for
   Parliamentary candidates; the admission of Jews to Parliament; and
   the overthrow of the Spoils System.
4.  The repeals of the Corn Laws; the adoption of the Free-Trade
   policy; and the Emancipation of Labor.
5.  The Small Agricultural Holdings Act; the Irish Land Acts; the
   abolition of Church rates; and the disestablishment of the Irish
   branch of the Church of England.
6.  The arbitration of the Alabama case.
7.  The progress of transportation and of the rapid transmission of
   intelligence was marked by the extension of railways to all parts
   of hte British Isles and to many other parts of the Empire; the
   introduction of the telegraph and the telephone; the laying of the
   Atlantic cable; the introduction of penny postage; the rise of
   cheap newspapers, of photography, of wireless telegraphy, and of
   the use of electricity to drive street cars and machinery.
8.  The progress of education was marked by the establishment of
   practically free elementary schools, free libraries, and the
   abolition of religious tests in the universities.
9.  The progress of science and philosophy was shown by the
   introduction of painless and also of antiseptic surgery, the use of
   the German X ray, and the rise and spread of the Darwinian theory
   of Evolution.
10.  Other events having far-reaching results were the terrible Irish
    famine, the Opium War, the Crimean War, the rebellion in India,
    the Trent affair, the war in the Sudan, and the great Boer War.
11.  Finally, we see the important work accomplished in India, Egypt,
    and other parts of Africa; the acquisition of the control of the
    Suez Canal; and the great expansion of the power of the Empire in
    Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

EDWARD VII—­1901-1910

625.  End of the Boer War (1902); Completion of Imperial Federation,
     1910.

Not long after Edward VII came to the throne the Boers (S623) laid down their arms (1902) and recognized the King as their true and lawful Sovereign.  The announcement set the “joy bells” ringing all over Great Britain.

Under Edward VII the Crown became the center of a greart movement for more complete Imperial Unity.  We have seen that the process of forming a federation of Great Britain and her widely scattered colonies had made good progress under Victoria (SS618, 619).  She had seen the creation of the Dominion of Canada (1867), the Dominion of New Zealand (1875), and the consolidation of the six Australian colonies into the Commonwealth of Australia (1901).  Nine years later (1910) the four states which had been the scene of the Boer War (S623) were consolidated in like manner and received the name of the Union of South Africa.[1] Boer and Briton seem now to have made up their minds to live together as one family, and, as farmers and stock raisers, they will work out their destiny on the land.  Speaking of the political significance of this event, a prominent official in South Africa said, “Without the influence of King Edward I, I do not think the union could have been effected.”