"øREFLECTIVE CLASSICAL MUSIC" "DONALD SUTHERLAND:" "For almost 1,000 years," "Windsor Castle has been the home of the kings and queens of England." "From this ancient fortress near London," "Queen Victoria reigned over a vast and expanding empire over which, it was said, the sun never set." "But in 1861, in her 24th year as Queen, the shadows descended." "Death robbed the Queen of her beloved husband Prince Albert." "Victoria ordered that his dressing room be preserved as a shrine." "Then she donned the robes of mourning she would wear for the rest of her life." "But the loss of Albert would have more profound consequences." "It would plunge the Queen and her greater statesmen into a titanic struggle for the heart and soul of her empire." "Queen Victoria had been inspired by Prince Albert's ideas and, in particular, by his vision of Camelot, the fabled realm of King Arthur." "According to legend," "Arthur ruled over an empire whose greatness was judged not by the extent of its conquests but by a belief that the strong should serve the weak, that good must triumph over evil, that might should be in the service of right." "Albert hoped that these principles would be the guiding light for Victoria and for her people." "But in the coming years that dream would be shattered as the Queen, alone and more vulnerable, allowed the Empire to take a very different path - a path which would lead her to the betrayal of Albert's ideals." "Victoria changed after Albert's death." "In Albert's day, his feeling of civilising the world meant bringing trade and education and progress and better standards of living to people." "Victoria became less interested in that." "Victoria wanted England to be dominant, to be pre-eminent." "She thought it was the destiny of Britain to rule as much of the world as possible." "Victoria's empire had come about more by accident than by design." "It was an empire based on trade, and to sustain it, the British had acquired naval bases, calling stations and colonies around the globe." "By the middle of the 1 9th century, the British had become the richest and most powerful nation in the world." "They had pioneered the age of steam." "They made more than half the world's industrial goods, and three-quarters of the world's trade was carried in British ships." "But despite this success," "Victoria's cities were pits of poverty and deprivation." "Nonetheless, her subjects, rich and poor, were united in the belief that God had chosen them for a special mission - to export not just the product of their industry but their ideas of government, law and morality." "Britain is a democracy and the British people wish to know why their government is behaving in a certain way." "If it is acquiring more territory, if it is fighting wars, then they'd like to know the reason." "And the simple reason is the development of the older idea of Britain as the agent of civilisation." "Britain is bringing peace and order and stability to the world, to distant regions." "øTRlBAL chanting" "In the Victorian mind, nowhere was this civilising mission more compelling or more dangerous than in Africa." "In the mid-19th century," "Africa was known as the 'Dark Continent', its vast interior largely unexplored by white men." "It was believed by the Victorians to be a place of pagan worship, of blood sacrifice and tribal conflict." "Inspired by Albert's vision of Camelot, men and women of the London Missionary Society journeyed here on a crusade to win converts to the Christian God, resolute in the belief that they were civilising the continent." "They included a man whose journeys into the heart of Africa would make him the most famous explorer of the Victorian age." "His name was David Livingstone." "A Scotsman born into a family of poor but passionate Christians, he worked in a cotton mill from the age of 10 and paid his own way through medical college." "He had heard that you could be a medical missionary and he said, "That's for me."" "And his father was a bit against this." "He said, "Oh, doctors - they just look for their fees," and so on." "But he was fired with enthusiasm to take the gospel further and working as a doctor and a missionary, he wasn't just going to deal with their spiritual side, he'd deal with the bodily side as well." "When Livingstone began his travels, the main British possession in Africa was a mere toehold on the southern tip of this vast continent." "The port of Cape Town was a staging post on the long sea route to India." "British governments had no interest in the interior, which was believed to be just thousands of miles of arid scrubland." "But as Livingstone travelled northward to the continent's great central plateau, he discovered a different Africa." "The scenery changed dramatically from desert to grassland, with tall trees and exotic wildlife." "Livingstone wrote copious notes, documenting all the flora and fauna in minute detail." "But it was a less pleasant encounter with the local wildlife that would first make him famous back in England." "øSUSPENSEFUL MUSIC" "The doctor was working on an irrigation ditch when he was alerted that some lions were approaching the camp." "He ran back to help his colleagues but found himself the target of the lions' attack." "øOMlNOUS MUSIC" "He squeezed off one shot but only grazed the beast." "The wounded animal pounced." "A native bearer saved his life." "But Livingstone had been badly mauled and his arm was broken." "It was a terrible experience... ..and it wasn't just broken, but you see, it was crushed as well." "Miles from medical help, Livingstone treated his own wounds." "He even managed to insert a screw into the broken bone." "I presume he was putting sticks as splints around and tying it and what he couldn't do, he'd have someone and say," ""Hold this and tie there," and whatnot." "Very painful and, of course, very difficult to get a good setting in that way." "Weeks later, a fellow doctor inspected Livingstone's wound with astonishment." ""He showed an amount of courage, sagacity, skill and endurance" ""that have scarcely been surpassed in the annals of heroism."" "Such stories, published by Livingstone and others, reached a wide audience in Europe and America." "Readers were inspired not just with a sense of adventure, but with the feeling that they were joining the missionaries in an historic crusade." "LAWRENCE JAMES:" "The missionaries see themselves as the pathfinders of civilisation." "They are..." "like Livingstone, they can be explorers." "The other value the missionaries have is that they're direct links between empire and the ordinary people." "Everyone said prayers in church for their missions." "Many churches and chapels supported their own missionary and regularly heard from him and sent money to him." "Despite his growing fame," "Livingstone had little success in Christianising the Africans." "His only recorded conversion was the baptism of a chief called Sechele." "The trouble was Chief Sechele had several wives but he had to have only one wife if he was to join the church." "But he was a very sincere man, he put his other wives away, gave them presents and said, "Sorry, I'm taking this new religion."" "He became a Christian and that, it's been said, was Livingstone's only convert." "And then it's said but he fell by the wayside because within a short time he took one of his wives back." "When the Chief lapsed, Livingstone was devastated, but he continued his quest to bring medicine and Christianity to Africa." "He endured terrible hardships - heat, rain and mud, the constant fear of attack from animals or hostile tribes, of desertion by his own men and of disease." "During the first three years of his travels," "Livingstone suffered 27 bouts of fever." "He struggled across rivers and through tropical forests with a racing heart, agonising headaches, dizziness and diarrhoea." "He was driven by his Christian ideals and a nearly Messianic self-belief." "LIVINGSTONE: "See, O Lord, how the heathen rise up against me" ""as they did to Thy Son." ""Should such a man as I flee?" "Nay, verily."" "øTRANQUlL MUSIC" "After 1 5 years of exploration," "Livingstone made his most spectacular discovery." "They came down this great broad river which spreads out to, oh, more than a mile wide there and they came down and there's an island ahead and the water was flowing on either side and he said, "Are we going to make this" ""or are we going to be swept to one side or the other? "" "Then you land on the island, as he did... ..and looked over and you saw this huge fall - the largest curtain of water in the world." "He felt this was a wonder of nature, a wonder of God's creation." "He said, "Angels in their flight must have seen sights like this."" "Livingstone named the site in honour of his Queen - the Victoria Falls." "Livingstone continued northwards and came across a spectacle that was to change his entire mission." "He was horrified to see chain gangs being driven to the coast, bound for the slave markets of Arabia." "LIVINGSTONE "The sights I've seen," ""though common incidents of the traffic," ""are so nauseous, that I always strive to drive them from memory." ""But the slaving scenes come back unbidden" ""and make me start up at dead of night," ""horrified by their vividness."" "Slavery had been banned throughout the British Empire in 1833 and the Royal Navy tried to intercept illegal slave runners bound for America." "But the slave trade continued unchallenged in East Africa." "Livingstone was determined that Britain must rid the continent of what he called "the open sore of the world"." "He concluded that the slavers must be tempted into more acceptable ways of making a living, that Africa must be civilised not by force but by trade." "LIVINGSTONE: "My desire is to open a path into Africa" ""that civilisation, commerce and Christianity" ""might find their way there."" "He would devote himself to exploration and attempt to find a route for British trade into the interior." "Where commerce led, the cross would surely follow, and with it, he hoped, freedom and justice for the enslaved people of Africa." "Livingstone appealed to the crusading spirit that thrived in Victoria's Britain " "a spirit that was embodied in the new Houses of Parliament in the heart of the British capital." "Prince Albert had spent the last 10 years of his life supervising the decoration of what he saw as a temple to civilised values - good government, law and the Christian religion." "At the heart of the building was the robing room, where the Queen would don the robes of sovereignty for the state opening of Parliament." "Here, in all its glory, was Prince Albert's vision of Camelot." "The paintings he commissioned would be a permanent reminder of the legend of King Arthur." "These heroic figures were to be role models for soldiers and scientists, the explorers and missionaries who would spread British values around the globe." "But how to spread this vision remained a hotly contested question." "In the House of Commons, this question was fiercely debated by Parliament's elected members," "led by two men whose views of Victoria's Empire were diametrically opposed." "On the one hand, the Conservative, Benjamin Disraeli, a passionate advocate of imperial power and glory." "And on the other, his lifelong adversary, the Liberal, William Gladstone, who championed the moral vision of Prince Albert and David Livingstone." "Gladstone was driven by a sense of high moral purpose and a heavy burden of guilt, in part because his own family had once made a fortune from slave labour." "As the leader of the Liberal Party," "Gladstone campaigned for the export of civilised values through commerce, not conquest." "Gladstone feels that the Empire is there and there's not much you can do about it." "He doesn't want to add to it and he believes that imperialism is a creed which can contaminate the British people, make them warlike, aggressive... ..um, whereas he thinks of a world in which there is universal peace." "When he looks at imperialism, he says, "Is this godly? " and he decided it isn't." "He sees it as might somehow triumphing over right." "He's rather frightened if the British people get entranced with empire, they'll go gallivanting off fighting wars here, there and everywhere, spend a lot of money and cease to be a moral force in the world." "This view was fiercely contested by his great rival, Benjamin Disraeli." "Disraeli first moved into the Prime Minister's office in 1 867." "And for the next 1 5 years, he and Gladstone would alternate in power." "Disraeli believed in the expansion of the British Empire." "He liked to claim that his ancestors had been rich Venetian merchants, trading with the Orient, and this gave him a romantic enthusiasm for imperial adventures." "Disraeli viewed the Empire as an extraordinary asset." "The Empire made Britain a great power, a global power and also enabled it to have plenty of muscle in Europe." "And Disraeli, of course, liked the glamour of empire." "He sees it bestowing prestige on the country." "He eventually hopes that the white colonies will not follow the American course but remain emotionally tied to Britain, particularly through the person of the Crown." "But Victoria was still in deep mourning." "Since the death of Prince Albert, she had lost interest in the Empire and all other affairs of state." "Victoria went into what I call purdah," "I think because she felt incompetent to handle being a queen." "Albert had done the work for her so long." "Albert had done everything, thought out everything for her, arranged everything for her, that she did not feel she was up to it again." "The Queen found some consolation with the Scotsman John Brown." "She began writing about him a few months after Albert's death." "VICTORIA: "I have an invaluable Highland servant" ""who is my factotum here" ""and takes the most wonderful care of me," ""combining the offices of groom, footman, page" ""and maid, I might almost say," ""as he is so handy about cloaks and shawls." ""He always leads my pony and always attends me out of doors."" "I think she also enjoyed his picking her up in his arms and putting her on her horse and taking her off her horse again." "For the first time since Albert, she had a strong, brawny man, who held her in his arms." "And I think that's as far as the sexuality went, but she enjoyed it." "To the dismay of her family and government, the Queen and her Highland servant became inseparable." "A section of press and public called her 'Mrs Brown' and her absence from public duty was widely condemned." "There were cartoons in the newspapers about this, showing an empty throne." "There were editorials in the newspapers about it " ""Why are we paying so much money to maintain a royal family?" ""Because the Royal Family"" ""is the symbol of the Empire and of Britain"" ""and here we don't have one."" "It was Disraeli who would rekindle the Queen's interest in public affairs." "His relationship with Victoria had begun badly." "She saw him as an upstart, an opportunist - what the British call a 'chancer'." "But Disraeli, with his considerable charm, set out to win her." "His official dispatches to her were spiced with social gossip and witty anecdotes." "Part of Disraeli's job as Prime Minister was to write an account of what was happening in Parliament and what was going on in Cabinet, to the Queen." "And Disraeli's letters to the Queen were wonderfully detailed and rather gossipy and actually rather indiscreet." "He probably told the Queen far more than he ought to have done, particularly about divisions of opinion." "Most people, prime ministers, made these letters very brief and rather official, but Disraeli's letters to Victoria were full of sort of protestations of affection and love and loyalty." "They were largely sugar." "But Queen Victoria lapped it up." "And, for once, the Queen was amused." "She wrote to her eldest daughter Vicky..." ""Mr Disraeli's reports are just like his novels - highly coloured."" "She'd never had such letters in her life, she declared, and had never before known everything." "Her attitude to the upstart underwent a dramatic change..." ""Mr Disraeli has achieved his present high position"" ""entirely by his ability,"" ""his wonderful, happy disposition,"" ""and I have nothing but praise for him."" "She sent him primroses that she'd picked herself." "In return, Disraeli gave her a set of his novels." "Victoria had just published a book of her own - a reminiscence of her days with Prince Albert at their palace in Scotland." "Disraeli was awfully good at just saying the tactful remark that Queen Victoria would enjoy." "For example, one of the best was Disraeli saying to her," ""We authors, ma'am", which was precisely what Victoria longed to hear, that they were both part of the same club of writers." "Disraeli bewitched the Queen with his romantic vision of the British Empire." "It would have horrified Prince Albert." "In the future, Victoria and Disraeli would form a powerful alliance for the imperial cause." "But it would be some time before their partnership would bear fruit." "Disraeli's first term as Prime Minister lasted less than a year." "When he was voted out of office, the Queen had to send for the leader of the Liberals" " Gladstone." "øREGAL MUSIC" "Victoria began by liking Gladstone." "He seemed to be an upright man." "He was ambitious but he was also extremely smart." "Prince Albert had warmly approved of Gladstone." "When the new Prime Minister came to the Palace to receive the seals of office, the Queen recorded her approval." ""He's very agreeable -"" ""so quiet and intellectual,"" ""with such a knowledge of all subjects."" ""And he's such a good man."" "But her satisfaction did not last." "Gladstone embarked on a whirlwind of liberal reforms that revived conservative instincts in the Queen that had been dormant while Albert was alive." ""Mr Gladstone is a very dangerous man"" ""and so very arrogant, tyrannical and obstinate,"" ""with no knowledge of the world or human nature."" ""All this and much want of regard towards my feelings"" ""make him a very dangerous and unsatisfactory Premier"" "She was not amused when he proposed that sailors might be permitted to grow beards and she was horrified by moves towards female equality." ""The Queen draws Mr Gladstone's attention"" ""to the mad and utterly demoralising movement of the present day"" ""to place women in the same position as men."" "But it was Gladstone's private life that caused Victoria the most concern." "STANLE WElNTRAUB:" "Because of his fanatical religion, he felt everybody had to be converted to his ways of morality and ethics." "He would go out in the streets at night, even when he was Prime Minister, and solicit prostitutes, take them back to their rooms, give them Bibles." "He would give them money and he would ask them to tread the straight and narrow ways." "Victoria got to know this because her maids-in-waiting told her everything, and it repelled her." "At one point, when Gladstone was to go up to visit Victoria at Balmoral, she sent him a letter telling him that when he arrived it was to be with a new suit of clothes that he had never worn before." "It was very clear that she wanted nothing of the degrading atmosphere of his involvement with these ladies of the evening." "Gladstone was unconcerned by the Queen's personal disapproval of him." "But he was appalled by the imperialist ideas she had picked up from Disraeli." "His own more liberal views of Britain's role were confidently being put to the test in Africa." "David Livingstone had returned to his Dark Continent." "This time he had been sent on an official mission to find a trading route into the interior, and to achieve his dream of combining commerce, civilisation and the Christian religion." "To this end, he was provided with generous funds by the British Government, and accompanied by six British scientists and his wife Mary, herself a devoted missionary." "Livingstone believed that the Zambezi River could become a great highway for British industrial goods." "But as they voyaged along the river, the expedition ran into dangerous rapids." "He believed the Zambezi could be a trade route - this great river, which he'd seen at Victoria Falls." "But when he travelled down it, he missed out one or two sections." "He took short cuts." "It was a reasonable thing to do - it saved a lot of time, but these short cuts were quite impassable." "And that's what the Zambezi expedition found - that his hope of this being a great highway into the centre of Africa wasn't there." "Livingstone refused to admit defeat." "He kept up the search for a trading route." "But then the expedition confronted another and more frightening peril." "øOMlNOUS MUSIC" "Despite repeated attacks of malaria," "Livingstone had dismissed the danger of disease." "LIVINGSTONE: "l apprehend no great mortality among missionaries."" ""Men of education and prudence, who can, if they will,"" ""adopt proper hygienic precautions."" "But this optimism was to lead to tragedy." "Mary Livingstone was one of the first to do down with a fever." "On 29 April 1 862, Livingstone wrote to his mother..." ""My beloved partner,"" ""whom I loved and treasured so much for 18 years,"" ""is with Jesus."" ""She was a good wife, a good mother and a good Christian."" ""l feel greatly distressed and weep bitter tears."" "Livingstone had paid a high price for his beliefs, and his grief would not end with the death of his wife." "He had set out to civilise Africa through commerce, but back in England, popular enthusiasm for his exploits was generating a new hunger for conquest." "Livingstone's expedition had failed - disease had caused the death of 12 of his companions - and none of his objectives was attained." "Livingstone was recalled by the British Government and returned home to face scathing attacks in the press." "MAN: "We were promised cotton, sugar, indigo - and we got none."" ""We were promised trade, and there is no trade."" ""We were promised converts, and not one has been made."" ""ln a word, thousands subscribed by the universities"" ""and contributed by the government"" ""have been productive of the most fatal results."" "Disraeli agreed with every word, and he soon seized the chance to promote his own vision of empire." "øROUSING MUSIC" "When he won the next election, the Queen greeted his victory with delight." "VICTORIA: "l saw Mr Disraeli at 2:45 today." ""He knelt down and kissed hands, saying," ""'I plight my troth to the kindest of mistresses."'" "The silver-tongued charmer was back in office." "As he had once confided to a friend..." "DISRAELI: "You have heard me called a flatterer, and it is true." ""Everyone likes flattery, and when you come to royalty" ""you should lay it on with a trowel."" "Disraeli always loved the company of women." "And he was very good at flattering women." "And I think with Queen Victoria, he was able to see that she was lonely, and Disraeli was able to charm her and to flatter her and, I think, very importantly one of the things that Disraeli did" "was to encourage her to take a far more active role in public affairs." "So the result of this was that basically he had Queen Victoria as an ally, particularly when he was prime minister." "And this was absolutely crucial, I think, to the success of Disraeli's ministry - that the monarchy was behind it." "Disraeli set out to increase Britain's prestige and expand Victoria's Empire." "And within a year of taking office fate dealt him a brilliant opportunity." "Just five years before, the Suez Canal had been carved through the Egyptian desert." "It permitted ocean-going ships to pass between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea," "linking Europe and the East." "For Britain, it was the lifeline to her greatest imperial possession." "øTRADITIONAL INDIAN MUSIC" "India, with 400 million people, was the largest overseas territory any empire has ever owned." "The Queen called it the most precious jewel in her crown, and Disraeli feared that a rival power would cut the new imperial artery." "The Suez Canal was absolutely crucial to Britain's Empire." "Suez was the jugular vein of the British Empire." "It was through the Suez Canal that the route to India - the short route to India, which was so strategically important - happened." "So for Disraeli it was very important, and he was quite right in this, I think, that Britain should have a controlling influence over the Suez Canal." "The shares in the Suez Canal Company were owned by a number of French investors and the ruler of Egypt - the khedive." "The khedive had spent Egypt's wealth on palaces, museums and railways." "Now he was deep in debt to banks in London and Paris." "The canal showed no prospect of paying a dividend for years, and he desperately needed funds." "In 1875, he made a secret offer to the British." "Disraeli wrote urgently to the Queen." ""Mr Disraeli, with his humble duty to Your Majesty " ""the khedive, on the eve of bankruptcy"" ""appears desirous of parting with his shares in the Suez Canal,"" ""and has communicated, confidentially."" ""lt is an affair of millions, about four at least,"" ""but it is vital to your Majesty's authority and power"" ""at this critical moment"" ""that the Canal should belong to England."" ""The khedive now says that it is absolutely necessary"" ""that he shall have between three and four million sterling"" ""by the 30th of this month, scarcely breathing time."" ""But the thing must be done."" "The Queen replied by telegram the following day, approving his course of action, but fearing that it would be difficult to arrange." "Normally, Parliament could have granted a government loan but Parliament was not in session and a French consortium had already bid for the shares." "Disraeli sent his private secretary to seek help from an old friend." "Baron Rothschild was the head of the great banking family and one of the richest men in the world." "The secretary explained that Disraeli needed £4 million - the price of the khedive's shares in the Suez Canal." ""When? " asked Rothschild." ""By tomorrow," answered the secretary." "Rothschild picked up a grape, spat out the pits and said, "What is your security? "" ""The British Government," was the reply." ""You shall have it," said the baron." "Disraeli wrote to the Queen in triumph." ""lt is just settled." "You have it, Madam."" ""The French Government has been out-generaled"" ""and the entire interest of the khedive is now yours."" "(Plays sonata)" "The Queen was delighted." "Disraeli treated her not only as his monarch but as a woman, and a woman of intelligence." "When the Canal deal was done, she wrote in her journal..." ""Complete security for India - an immense thing."" ""Mr Disraeli said that my support had been a great help."" ""His mind is so much greater"" ""and his apprehension of things great and small"" ""so much quicker than that of Mr Gladstone."" "Gladstone was strongly opposed to the deal because he thought it would draw Britain into new imperial commitments." "He was right." "The Suez Canal was to drag the British deeper and deeper into the murky politics of the Middle East." "The overlords of the entire region were the Turks, but many of their subject peoples were rising against them." "Faced with rebellion on all sides, the Turks resorted to mass slaughter." "Russia backed the rebels, and Disraeli feared that the Turkish Empire would collapse and open the way for the Russians to advance on the Suez Canal." "However badly they treated their subjects," "Disraeli thought Britain had to support the Turks." "But Gladstone thought otherwise." "He was no longer the leader of the Liberals." "He had retired to his country estate, where he relaxed by chopping trees and setting down his thoughts on God." "But he was appalled by stories of Turkish atrocities against their Christian subjects." "He thought the corrupt and crumbling Turkish Empire should be brought to an end." "He laid down his axe and he took up his pen." "GLADSTONE: "There is not a cannibal in the South Sea islands"" ""whose indignation would not arise and overboil"" ""at the recital of what has been done."" ""Let the Turks now carry away their abuses in the only possible manner,"" ""namely by carrying off themselves."" ""This thorough riddance, this most blessed deliverance,"" ""is the only reparation we can make"" ""to the memory of those heaps and heaps of dead -"" ""to the violated purity alike of matrons, maiden and of child."" "øSTIRRING MUSIC" "Disraeli called the style of Gladstone's protest vulgar, remarking that of all the atrocities," "Gladstone's writings were probably the worst." "But Gladstone had caught the public mood, and in the House of Commons," "Disraeli was forced to choose his words with more care." "DISRAELI: "Our duty at this critical moment" ""is to maintain the Empire of England."" ""Nor will we agree to any step," ""though it may obtain for a moment comparative quiet"" ""and a false prosperity," ""that hazards the existence of Empire."" "Disraeli backed his words with action." "As the Russians advanced on the Turkish capital, he dispatched a British fleet," "Led by the most powerful battleship in the world, HMS 'Devastation'." "Public opinion swung to Disraeli's side." "SONG:" "Æ We don't want to fight But by jingo if we do" "Æ We've got the ships, we've got the men" "Æ And got the money too..." "Æ" "War fever spread through the pubs and music halls of Britain." "The British may not have liked what the Turks were doing to their Christian subjects, but they shared Disraeli's determination to stop the Russians." "Fearful of war with Britain, the Russians agreed to negotiate." "Disraeli set off to attend peace talks." "(Crowd cheers)" "He returned in triumph." "His diplomacy had forced the Russians to halt their advance on the Middle East." "The lifeline to India was secure." "(Crowd cheers)" "Victoria shared the public rejoicing and decided it was the right moment to claim what she considered to be long overdue." "VICTORIA: "In common conversation"" ""l am sometimes called Empress of India."" ""Why have I never officially assumed this title?"" ""l feel I ought to do so" ""and wish to have preliminary enquiries made."" "Disraeli introduced a bill in Parliament to bestow on Victoria the title 'Queen Empress of India'." "Gladstone led the opposition, calling the move..." ""Theatrical bombast and folly."" "But the title was granted and the Queen was delighted." "She expressed her gratitude by making Disraeli an earl." "She was deeply grateful to Disraeli for this." "It was, if you like, embellishing the British monarchy, and at the same time the Queen is given a new sense of responsibility." "She is deeply interested in India." "Immediately she is made Empress, she sets out to learn Hindustani." "Doesn't make much headway, but a lot of goodwill there." "And she also hires Indian servants." "Between them, the Queen Empress and her newly ennobled Prime Minister appealed to an imperial spirit that was spreading through large sections of the British public." "An aggressive spirit, flexing British muscle and lording it over the world." "Gladstone continued to oppose it." "He called it..." ""Showy imperialism."" "Even Disraeli's own foreign secretary wrote privately of his concerns." ""Disraeli believes thoroughly in prestige,"" ""and would think it in the interests of the country"" ""to spend 200 millions on a war,"" ""if the result was to make foreign states think more highly of us."" "The Queen backed Disraeli to the hilt." "VICTORIA: "lf we are to maintain our position as a first-rate power,"" ""we must, with our Indian Empire and large colonies,"" ""be prepared for attacks and wars somewhere or other, continually."" "But the strain of this imperialist policy was beginning to show." "øTRIBAL CHANTING" "British forces in Southern Africa had clashed with the most powerful warrior nation on the continent - the Zulus." "At the Battle of Isandhlwana, 600 British soldiers were wiped out to a man." "It took 17,000 British reinforcements armed with the latest artillery to defeat an enemy armed largely with spears." "Back in England, a powerful voice was raised in protest." ""Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him..."" "Gladstone was no longer in control of Parliament, so he appealed directly to the British people." ""The sanctity of life in the hill villages,"" ""is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God,"" ""as can be your own."" "The power of his oratory drew vast crowds." "10,000 Zulus had died, he claimed..." ""For no other offence"" ""than to defend against your artillery with their naked bodies"" ""their hearths, their homes, their wives, their families."" "I mean, it is one of the great mysteries about Gladstone - how his oratory was so effective." "'Cause he wasn't a tremendous phrase-maker,' and he didn't talk down to his audience, he rather talked up to them." "And yet he held them for these very long periods." "An hour and a half was quite normal, in great mass meetings." "I think it was essentially his physical presence, a sort of flash of his eagle's eye, the drama of his gestures, the cadence of his voice." "I was fascinated when an old man came up to me and said," ""My father used to be a shouter for Gladstone."" "It was an absolute precise meaning." "He was employed at a Gladstone meeting, together with a number of other people, to stand about 20 to 30 yards back from the platform and to turn round and attempt to relay Gladstone to the more distant audience " ""He's going on to Bulgarian atrocities now."" "And it does seem to be absolute truth that a lot of the fringes, or even wide fringes of the meeting, could not actually hear what Gladstone was saying." "But the fact that he could hold a mass audience standing for an hour and a half when they couldn't really hear what he was saying is the most tremendous tribute I can think of to the sheer force of his physical presence." "The Queen was outraged - she complained in her journal," "VICTORIA: "Mr Gladstone is going about"" ""like an American stumping orator," ""making most violent speeches."" "But to her surprise and dismay, Gladstone had struck a popular chord." "Once more, he had appealed to the British sense of justice and fair play." "They voted the Liberals back into power with a massive majority." "Gladstone wrote exultantly of the defeat of Disraeli and the 'showy imperialism' he represented." "GLADSTONE: "It is like the vanishing of some magnificent castle," ""in an Italian romance."" "Prince Albert would have shared Gladstone's pleasure at the dismissal of Disraeli's warmongering government." "But Victoria had turned her back on Albert's moral vision for the Empire." "She stubbornly refused to accept Gladstone as her new prime minister." "She wrote to her private secretary," ""The Queen will sooner abdicate than send for" ""or have any communication with that half-mad firebrand," ""who would soon ruin everything and be a dictator." ""Others but herself may submit to his democratic rule," ""but not the Queen."" "But she was a constitutional monarch and submit she must." "Gladstone returned to power, determined to reverse Disraeli's imperialist policies." "He set out to achieve Home Rule for Ireland, he pressed for the appointment of more Indian judges and ensured that Englishmen could no longer refuse to appear before them." "But in Africa, Gladstone could do little to halt the public hunger for conquest - a hunger nourished by the further adventures of David Livingstone." "Livingstone had returned to Africa to search for the source of the River Nile." "For five years he disappeared without a trace." "And his obituary even appeared in the press." "There's no doubt that travelling in Africa had gone into his blood." "But it was also, I think, he felt that if he succeeded in this, he would gain credibility...again." "He would show himself as the person who'd explored and found the source of the Nile." "And that would give credence to his views on slavery and the development of Africa to Christianity and commerce." "But he was at this time more and more affected by illness." "He was losing...he was losing blood, he would have attacks of malaria and dysentery, he had haemorrhoids and he was a very, very sick man." "A journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, was sent to Africa by an American newspaper with orders to find the lost missionary." "Stanley fought his way through warring tribes, spurred on by reported sightings of Livingstone." "After seven months, he finally reached the remote trading post deep in the interior." "øMELANCHOLY MUSIC" "And here, in November 1871... ..the famous meeting took place." "STANLEY:" ""Dr Livingstone, I presume? "" "Whether or not the immortal words were fact or fiction," "Stanley had found his man." "The news was telegraphed around the world." "But when the headlines had faded," "Livingstone was still in Africa, alone, desperately lonely and increasingly unwell." "Close to death, he wrote a final letter beseeching the world to abolish the slave trade." "LIVINGSTONE: "All I can add in my loneliness"" ""is may Heaven's rich blessing come down on everyone -"" ""American, English or Turk -"" ""who will help to heal the open sore of the world."" "On the night of April 30, 1873, David Livingstone died." "His body was wrapped in a shroud of tree bark and calico for its long journey back to England." "But first, Livingstone's servants cut his heart out and buried it under a tree, so that it would always remain in Africa." "When the body finally arrived in Britain, the Queen declared a day of national mourning." "Livingstone was buried in Westminster Abbey and the words of his final letter were engraved on his tomb." "But Livingstone's African adventures had an effect he would never have endorsed." "The opening up of the dark continent by missionaries, traders and explorers" "Launched a race for colonies that would become known as the 'Scramble for Africa'." "The pressure for British involvement in this land grab would shake all Gladstone's resolve to avoid further imperial commitment." "It would bring Queen and Prime Minister to mutual loathing, and ensure that the last act in the drama of Victoria's Empire would be spectacular and bloody." "øDRAMATIC MUSIC" "ø Supertext Captions by øCaptioned by:" "ø Angelo Stravoskoufis"