some
shots were fired at an English fishing fleet, killing two men and
wounding others. War between Russia and England was averted only by
the prompt disavowal of this action on the part of Russia, and an
equally prompt compensation of the Englishmen affected after the
incident had been submitted to an international commission of
arbitration, which met in Paris. It was at this time that the new
_entente cordiale_ between France and England had its first test. For
there is no doubt that France exerted considerable pressure on its
Russian ally in order to hasten a prompt amicable settlement of the
matter.

In 1905 considerable opposition developed against the increase in
naval expenditures, occasioned chiefly by the necessity of keeping
step with the accelerated pace in naval armament which Germany began
to set at that time. In July, 1905, Lord Roberts made a speech in
the House of Lords in which he called the attention of the country
to the fact that the English army was unfit for war both in members
and equipment and training. In August, 1905, the Anglo-Japanese
alliance of 1902 was modified to conform to the new conditions that
had been created by the Russo-Japanese War. The terms of this new
arrangement have already been considered fully in that section of
this book which is devoted to Japan's history. In April, 1906, an
Anglo-Chinese conference modified the Anglo-Tibetan treaty allowing
China to maintain its suzerainty over Tibet, but giving full
protection to all English interests. This year, 1906, also saw the
beginning of the agitation for woman suffrage, which in the
following years assumed rapidly great proportions and violence.
Other matters of internal importance--educational, religious,
financial, and other legislation--made English internal politics
during this period more virulent than at any other period in recent
times, and gradually led up to the change from a Conservative to a
Liberal Government and to a series of very radical legislative
measures.

One of the chief causes of recent friction between Russia and Great
Britain was removed in March, 1907, by the signing of an agreement
between the two countries regulating their respective interests in
Persia. A colonial conference, which met in London in April, 1907,
gave new impetus to the imperialistic movement and to the closer
union between the United Kingdom and the colonies. In June of that
year, 1907, the great parliamentary struggle between the