第9章　殖民扩张和议会发展

9.1　复习笔记

I. Colonial Expansion

II. The Industrial Monopoly and Its Declining

III. Party Politics and Reforms

IV. Emergence of the Labor Party

I. Colonial Expansion (殖民扩张)

1. Britain and France attended the Crimean War from 1845 to 1856 to keep the balance of power in Europe.

2. In 1840, Britain launched the Opium War against China. And China signed the first unequal Treaty of Nanjing in 1842.

3. Britain occupied one-third of the whole of Africa.

4. The dominion of Canada was the first British dominion to be so organized in 1900.

5. By the end of the 19th century the colonial possessions of Britain had already covered about 1000000 square miles, so Great Britain boasted that she ran an “empire on which the sun never sets”.

1. 英国和法国参与了从1845年到1856年的克里米亚战争，以维护欧洲的权利平衡。

2. 1840年，英国向中国发动鸦片战争。1842年，中国签署了历史上第一个不平等条约——《南京条约》。

3. 英国占领了三分之一的非洲。

4. 1900年，加拿大成为英国的第一个自治地。

5. 19世纪末，英国的殖民地面积达到100万平方千米。英国被称为“日不落帝国”。

II. The Industrial Monopoly and Its Declining (政治改革)

1. In the middle of the 19th century England already revealed two outstanding characteristics of imperialism: ①vast colonies; ②monopoly profit. Mid-Victorian prosperity reached its peak in a boom that collapsed in 1873.

2. The interests of different sections of the community diverged between 1870 and 1900.

1. 19世纪中期，英国已经具备帝国主义的两个显著特征：①广阔的殖民地；②垄断利润。1873年，经济逐渐衰退。

2. 1870—1900年，不同部门的利益开始分化。

III. Party Politics and Reforms (政党政治和改革)

1. In order to win the support of the people, conservatives and liberals put forward their own reform bills. The most important ones were the Third Reform Bill of 1884 and the Redistribution Act of 1885.

2. Foreign affairs remained the most difficult problem, among which the relation to Ireland was the most important.

1. 为争取人心，保守党和自由党竞相提出改革方案。最重要的法案是1884年的《第三法案》和1885年的《再分配法案》。

2. 对外事务是最难解决的问题，其中最终的是英国和爱尔兰的关系。

IV. Emergence of the Labour Party (工党的出现)

1. In 1868 the first Trade Union Congress met in Manchester.

2. The independent Labour Party was founded in 1893.

3. In February 1900 a labour representation conference was held in London, which marked the beginning of the 20th-century Labour Party.

1. 1868年，第一届工会大会在曼彻斯特举行。

2. 独立的工党于1893年成立。

3. 1900年2月，工党代表大会在伦敦举行，标志着工党的成立。

9.2　课后习题详解

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions:

1. What was the colonial expansion like during the 19th century?

Key: In Asia Britain launched an aggressive war against China. This was the Opium War. The corrupt Qing government was forced to sign the unequal Treaty of Nanjing. From 1856 to 1860 Anglo-French forces occupied some cities in China. In 1900 Britain, allied with other seven countries invaded China and got the lower and middle Yangtze valley as well as a large amount of money according to the Treaty of Beijing. In 1842 Britain occupied Singapore, Malaya, in 1886 Burma. In Africa Britain defeated the Boers and annexed the two semi-independent Boer republics in 1901. And in fact Britain occupied one-third of the whole Africa. From the mid-19th century a number of British colonies were organized into dominions. They were the domination of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. By the end of the 19th century Britain had occupied about a quarter of the earth’s inhabitable area. So Britain boasted that she ran an “empire on which the sun never sets”.

2. How did the British industrial monopoly decline?

Key: By the 1870’s the decadence and parasitism of British imperialism began increasingly to affect the British economy. The British industrial monopoly declined after the middle of the 19th century. The interests of different sections of the community diverged. In particular, arable and meat-producing farmers felt the full weight of foreign competition. Many industrialists felt the growing pressure of foreign competition both in old and new industries. British textile industry was declining rapidly. The world markets were lost. Exports fell. The whole industry declined faster than ever before.

3. What do you know about the parliamentary reforms’?

Key: The two British political parties, the Conservative and the Liberals were in power alternately during 19 century. Both parties realized that the parliamentary reform was irresistible, so they fell over each other to get credit from it. Yet it was Disraeli who claimed the credit for the act of 1867. In a parliament where Disraeli was in a minority, he eventually carried a bill, which lowered property qualifications and extended the franchise to all householders in the boroughs. It gave the vote to many workingmen in the towns and cities. The country franchise was not substantially changed, but some new seats were created by taking one member from existing borough constituencies. The industrial bourgeoisie was politically strengthened. Members of upper layers of the working class shared the fruits of the reform but millions of agricultural laborers, as well as the urban workers who were not house holders, remained voteless.

4. How did the Labor Party come into being?

Key: In February 1900 a labor representation conference was held in London at which trade unions, co-operatives and the Independent Labor Party, the Fabian Society agreed to found a Labor Representation Committee, with Ramsay MacDonald as first secretary, to promote the return of Labor members of Parliament. With Liberal support, it won 29 seats at the general election of 1906 and was renamed the Labor Party in the same year.

Exercise 2. Explain the following terms:

1. the Crimean War

Key: The War broke out in 1845 and ended in 1856. It was a war between Britain, Turkey, France and Russia for the balance of power in Europe and the desire of the Western powers to keep Turkey as a barrier against Russian expansion into the Balkans. In 1856 peace was signed at Paris. Russia agreed not to fortify Sebastopol which was the great fortress in Crimea. And the Danube River was opened to free navigation.

2. the Opium War

Key: From 1780 to 1839 Britain exported a lot of opium to China each year. In 1840 under the pretext of protecting her trade, Britain launched an aggressive war against China. This was the Opium War. The corrupt Qing government surrendered to the British invaders and was forced to sign the first unequal Treaty of Nanjing in 1842.

3. Viscount Palmerstone

Key: The Prime Minister of Britain during 1859 to 1865, was the image of the successful bourgeois. In domestic policy he resisted any reform and delayed overdue reform. After his death the question of parliamentary reform was re-opened.

4. the Fabian Society

Key: It was a socialist society founded in 1884 in London, to establish a democratic socialist state in Britain. It included intellectuals, such as G. B. Shaw and H. G. Wells, who played an important part in the 20th century labor politics.