f 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 sig