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Submitted by sidneys on May 10, 2008
Category: History Other
Words: 2149 | Pages: 9
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Disraeli became Prime Minister. He was 70 years old,in frail health and desolated by his wife's death, but he made the most of his opportunity at the top—after a quarter-century rebuilding the Tory party. Disraeli pushed through Factory Acts in 1874 and 1878, increasing government regulation of business. Disraeli's Trade Union Act essentially put labor union bosses above the law. With the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, Disraeli's government assumed responsibility for the health of people. The Artisan's Dwelling Act authorized local governments to take private property for housing projects.
More distressing for Gladstone, Disraeli promoted imperialism. He spent more money on armaments. He got involved in the war between Russia and Turkey. He occupied Cyprus. He had British forces invade Transvaal, South Africa, and Kabul, Afghanistan. He guaranteed to protect three states on the Malay Peninsula. He claimed about 200 Pacific islands. He acquired controlling interest in the Suez Canal—a move which afforded more secure access to British India but became an 80-year occupation of Egypt, including wars, big military expenditures and political embarrassments. Disraeli flattered Queen Victoria by naming her Empress of India, and she cherished the thought that the sun never set on the British Empire. Gladstone was outraged.
Events in the Mideast brought Gladstone back into the public arena. Between April and August 1876, Turkish forces slaughtered some 12,000 rebellious Bulgarian Christians. Disraeli played this down, because he supported the Turkish empire to offset Russian influence. Gladstone insisted that moral standards apply to everyone, including allies. Gladstone wrote a pamphlet, The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, which came out in early September and soon sold 200,000 copies. Disraeli dismissed the pamphlet as passionate, vindictive, and ill-written. Disraeli added: There may be more infamous men but I don't...
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