the others one each.

All the rest of the Duma members are elected from the rural parts of the empire. The elections to the assemblies and colleges indicated, even during the first week in February, a sweeping victory for the combined opposition to the government. Despite the obstacles put in their way, the Constitutional Democrats will control the next Duma, in some districts having an absolute majority over the combined Monarchist, Octobrist, and Socialist vote. The votes of St. Petersburg were all for Constitutional Democrats. Count Heyden, leader of the party of Peaceful Regeneration, and Dr. Kovalevski, the chief spirit of the Democratic Reform party, were overwhelmingly defeated, while the Radical Extreme Left, despite the disqualification,-by "administrative order," of a number of its leaders, such as Prof. Paul Milyukov, and the Group of Toil fighters Aladyin (now in this country) and Annikin, returns in increased strength. The Poles, who, like their brethren in Prussia, are Polish Nationalists first of all, made substantial gains. The Reactionaries will be comparatively few in the new body, and even these few have, in most cases, been forced on the voters.

A Challenge to the Duma.

The Russian people have learned much, and they will not waste their time in the new Duma as they did in the first. They will be cautious, but nevertheless their temper is indicated by the words of the Radical leader Vadovosev, who has declared: "The first Duma was one of anger; the next will be a Duma of vengeance.' That the government realizes the strength of the opposition it will have to face is evident from an officially signed article in the Novoye Vremya, which is the first challenge of the existing régime to the Duma about to assemble. The writer admits that Parliament will contain "a strong element which will devote all its energy to the overthrow of the existing administrative. system." Then comes the challenge:

Those forces are

The government will remain the instrument of the sovereign, not the agent of the Duma. The government has on its side an enormous army, whose chief is the Emperor, who is also the sole head of the government. Besides that, the government has on its side a badly organized but on the whole strong administrative police and the so-called rotten but when necessary very daring bureaucracy. standing face to face with the Duma and can cause its dissolution if it seek to transgress the organic laws which limit its power. If it forces a conflict with the Council of the Empire the sovereign will be obliged to dissolve one or the other. There can certainly be no doubt which he would dissolve. If the Duma attaches harassing conditions to credits created for the payment of debts or succoring the distressed provinces the sovereign will be faced with the dilemma of passing over the supreme power to the Duma or of dissolving it. There can again be no doubt which he would decide to do.

Other

While the news from Russia Happenings during the past weeks has re

in Russia. lated so largely to the new Parliament, there have been several other happenings of interest and significance which have reached us in the dispatches. General Kuropatkin's "History "History of the Japanese War," which was confiscated by the Russian Government, has at last been published in Germany. It consists of three bulky volumes devoted respectively to the three great battles of the war: Liao Yang, the Sha River, and Mukden. General Kuropatkin charges his generals with amazing incapacity, negligence, and disobedience. His book also reveals a wretched lack of preparation and organization by the Minister of War. In the list of outrages and disorders of the month we note the assassination of the Governor of Penza, S. A. Alexandrovski, well-known as chief commissioner of the Red Cross in

the war between Russia and Japan and Russian Commissioner-General at the St. Louis Exposition, and the attempt upon the life of ex-Premier Witte. Then there was the beginning of the evacuation (on January 31) of Manchuria by the Russian forces; the confirmation by the Czar of the sentence of the Kronstadt court-martial, on December 24, by which Admiral Nebogatov was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in a fortress for surrendering to the Japanese in the battle of the Sea of Japan on May 27, 1905; the announcement, early in February, of a new internal loan of $35,000,000, to be devoted to the famine sufferers in the central Russia provinces.

The Comin

The date of June 15 has been Hague Peace tentatively set for the beginning Conference. of the sessions of the second international peace conference at The Hague. Just what will be the scope of the discussions at this conference has not yet been publicly announced, but the program, according to Prof. Frederick Martens, member of the Russian Privy Council and expert on international law, will include the discussion of many different phases of international peace, probably omitting, however, the subjects of restriction of armament and the Drago Doctrine, as to the, forcible collection of international debts. Our own Government, which in accepting the program reserved the right to present these two questions for discussion, may decide to bring them up before the conference for informal consideration. Professor Martens, during his recent trip through Europe to consider the program with the powers signatory to the first treaty, in referring to the question of the Drago Doctrine, said:

This matter has provoked some misunderstanding and bad feeling. If the doctrine is to form a guaranty to any power not to pay its debts, naturally it will not evoke very much sympathy, and from this point of view I do not think it will be approved even in the United States. The doctrine was accepted by Mr. Hay, the late American Secretary of State, with considerable reserve. If, on the other hand, the doctrine will have the effect of referring to The Hague, instead of causing a resort to force, questions which can be settled by arbitration, it can only be very useful.

Mr. W. T. Stead, who is devoting his personal energies and thought, as well as the pages of the English Review of Reviews, to further his advocacy of the disarmament idea,

spent the month of January in a tour throughout the Continent, visiting the capitals of all the great powers in an attempt to sound the sentiments of the different governments regarding the program of the coming conference. England, the United States, Japan, Italy, and Hungary, he announces, are in favor of an open discussion of the questions of arbitration and of armament reduction. Russia is opposed to a consideraation of the disarmament question. France is "more reserved, but very sympathetic." Germany and Austria would probably “not oppose the general desire to have these questions discussed, if only in order to educate public opinion."

Chinese Prog

ress.

China's slow but sure progress toward constitutionalism is illustrated by the reorganization of the civil service which has already begun. To check the misuse or waste of public moneys a general auditing office has been created and many official sinecures abolished.

ment

A "Council to Assist in Governhas also been appointed, to act until such time as the people may be ready to elect a national assembly. In a commercial way China is prosperous, the revenues for the present year being, it is reported on good authority, the largest on record. meantime, however, a grievous famine is wasting several provinces, and it is estimated that 10,000,000 persons are affected, with as many as 4,000,000 people destitute or suffering from lack of food. Seed wheat is needed. President Roosevelt has issued an appeal asking for financial aid, to be applied through the Red Cross Society. Evidences of the Peking government's honest intention to modernize the Chinese state are found in its promise to call a Manchurian conference, to be participated in by Japan, the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, and France, and the announcement that ex-Secretary of State John S. Foster will be one of the delegates for the Chinese Government to the second peace conference at The Hague. China will also pay an indemnity for the death of the five American missionaries killed at Lien Chow in October, 1905. Although there are rumors of a renewal of the boycott against American goods by Chinese merchants, nothing of a serious nature is expected in the near future to mar the relations between the two countries.

PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS.

January 21-In the Senate, a compromise resolution on the subject of the discharge of the colored troops of the Twenty-fifth Infantry is introduced by Mr. Foraker (Rep., Ohio) and accepted by Mr. Blackburn (Dem., Ky.)....The House passes the Senate bills providing for a reorganization of the artillery corps, for investigation of woman and child workers, and prohibiting corporations from making money contributions in connection with political elections.

January 22.-The Senate passes the substitute Foraker resolution providing for an inquiry into the discharge of the colored troops at Brownsville, Texas....The House passes the Diplomatic and Consular and the Military Academy Appropriation bills.

January 23.-The Senate adopts the amendment increasing the salaries of the Vice-President, Speaker, members of the Cabinet and of Congress....The House debates the Pension Appropriation bill....A message from President Roosevelt urging ship-subsidy legislation is received in both branches.

January 24-A message from President Roosevelt urging the enactment of a model insurance law for the District of Columbia is received in both branches....The House passes the Pension Appropriation bill.

January 25-The Senate passes an Urgent Deficiency Appropriation bill.

January 26.-The House considers the Agricultural Appropriation bill.

January 28-In the Senate, Mr. Beveridge (Rep., Ind.) continues his speech in behalf of his Child Labor bill....The House devotes the day to District of Columbia business.

January 29.-The Senate passes the Diplomatic and Consular and the Fortifications bills; Mr. Beveridge (Rep., Ind.) finishes his speech on child labor.

January 30.-The Senate passes bills placing

the Panama Railroad under the Canal Commission and appropriating $2,000,000 for stopping the overflow of the Colorado River....The House passes the Agricultural Appropriation bill and begins consideration of the River and Harbor bill; Mr. Wadsworth (Rep., N. Y.) speaks on the Meat Inspection law.

January 31.-In the Senate, Mr. Rayner (Dem., Md.) speaks on alleged executive usurpations and encroachments, and is answered by Mr. Lodge (Rep., Mass.)....The House continues debate on the River and Harbor bill. February 2.-The Senate considers the Indian Appropriation bill.

February 4-In the Senate, the day is chiefly devoted to the bill giving the Government the right of appeal in certain criminal cases....The House passes the Senate General Service Pension bill and adopts the resolution for an in

SENATOR-ELECT SIMON GUGGENHEIM, OF COLORADO.

vestigation of cotton exchange methods of busi

ness.

February 5.-In the Senate debate on the Indian Appropriation bill Mr. Depew (Rep., N. Y.) speaks against the practice of attaching general legislation to appropriation bills....The Harbor bill. House continues consideration of the River and

February 6.-The House defeats the proposal for a fourteen-foot channel between Chicago and the Gulf.

February 7.-The House passes the River and Harbor Appropriation bill and the bill amending the Denatured Alcohol law.

February 8.-The Senate passes the Indian Appropriation bill and begins consideration of the Army bill....In the House the Naval Appropriation bill is taken up.

February 11.-The Senate passes the Army Appropriation bill....The House considers District of Columbia bills in committee of the whole.

February 13.-The Senate passes the bill giving the Government the right of appeal in certain criminal cases and the District of Columbia Appropriation bill.

February 14.-In the Senate, Mr. Knox (Rep., Pa.) discusses the legal aspects of the resolution declaring Senator Smoot (Rep., Utah) not entitled to his seat.

February 15-The Senate debates the conference report on the Immigration bill....The House in committee of the whole defeats an amendment to the Naval Appropriation bill to strike out the provision for an additional battleship of the Dreadnought type.

February 16-The Senate adopts the conference report on the Immigration bill, including the administration's plan to settle the Japanese question....The House debates the Post-Office appropriation bill.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT-AMERICAN.

January 22.-The following United States Senators are elected in their respective States: Robert L. Taylor (Dem., Tenn.), Frederick W. Mulkley (Rep.) and Jonathan Bourne, Jr. (Rep.), Oregon. The following Senators are re-elected: Benjamin R. Tillman (Dem.), S. C.; Jonathan P. Dolliver (Rep.), Iowa; Edmund W. Pettus (Dem.) and John T. Morgan (Dem.), Alabama.

January 23-The following United States Senators are re-elected: Stephen B. Elkins (Rep.), W. Va.; Joseph W. Bailey (Dem.), Texas; Shelby M. Cullom (Rep.), Ill.; Robert J. Gamble (Rep.), S. D.; Knute Nelson (Rep.), Minn.; F. M. Simmons (Dem.), N. C.; Francis E. Warren (Rep.), Wyo. The Kansas Legislature elects Charles Curtis (Rep.) United States Senator to succeed Joseph R. Burton.... Charles D. Walcott, Director of the Geological Survey, is chosen Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

January 24-It is announced that Chief Engineer Stevens will succeed Mr. Shonts as chairman of the Panama Canal Commission.. Governor Hughes of New York signs the bill accepting the estate of William Pryor Letchworth as a State park.

January 26.-Philadelphia Republicans nominate Congressman John E. Reyburn for Mayor; William Potter, formerly United States Minister to Italy, receives the City party and Democratic nomination.

January 27-The report of the Joint Postal Commission, made public in Washington, recommends sweeping changes in the postal laws.

January 28.-The Delaware Legislature votes to continue the whipping-post and public floggings for prisoners convicted of theft, felonious assault, housebreaking, and mayhem.... The Interstate Commerce Commission, in a report to Congress, severely denounces the business methods of the Standard Oil Company.

January 30.-The Arkansas Legislature chooses ex-Gov. Jeff Davis as United States Senator.

February 3-It is announced that Senator Dryden (Rep.), of New Jersey, has withdrawn from the fight for re-election on the advice of his physician.

February 4-United States Senate Committee on Military Affairs begins its investigation of the affray at Brownsville, Texas; the trial of Major Penrose in connection with the Brownsville riot is begun at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

February 5-The New Jersey Legislature chooses Frank O. Briggs (Rep.) United States Senator to succeed John F. Dryden....Representative William Alden Smith (Rep.) is elected by the Michigan Legislature to fill out the unexpired term of the late Senator Alger.

February 7.-The Interstate Commerce Commission's hearing on the Harriman mergers is resumed at Los Angeles, Cal....Mayor Schmitz and the San Francisco school board arrive in Washington to confer with President Roosevelt on the Japanese school question.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT-FOREIGN. January 23.-It is officially announced that Mr. Augustine Birrell becomes Chief Secretary for Ireland and Mr. R. McKenna president of the British Board of Education....Count Okuma resigns the leadership of the Progressive party in Japan.

January 24.-The Spanish Liberal government resigns....Delegates of the Labor party in Great Britain meet at Belfast; the levy on each memin the House of Commons is doubled and it is ber for the support of the party's representatives decided to stand by local option in temperance questions.

January 25.-The first ballotings in the GerSeñor Maura undertakes to form a Conservative man general elections show Socialist losses.... government in Spain.

January 26-The Spanish Parliament is suspended by the King....The British Labor party agrees to a motion in favor of the extension of the suffrage equally to all men and women.

January 29.-The French bishops propose a plan for carrying on public worship in the churches under the Separation law....The following British ministerial appointments are announced: Mr. Runciman, to be Financial Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. C. E. Hobhouse, to be Under-Secretary for India, and Dr. Macnamara, to be parliamentary secretary to the Local Government Board.

January 30.-The French Chamber of Deputies, by a vote of 550 to 5, passes the Public Meetings bill....The Chilean Congress authorizes the construction of a railroad from the

Peruvian frontier to the Strait of Magellan.

January 31-Premier Stolypin of Russia promises full liberty in the Duma elections under the laws.

February 1.-In the reballotings for the German parliamentary elections the Socialists lose a seat at Bremen; complete returns show that the Clericals have made the largest gain.

February 3-Elections in British Columbia result in gains for the government.

February 4-In the Russian elections Count Heyden, leader of the Peaceful Regeneration party, and M. Kovalevski, leader of the Democratic Reform party, are defeated....The State Commission appointed to revise the constitution of Holland recommends that children born after the abdication of the sovereign be excluded from succession to the throne, and that women be eligible for election to the States-General.

February 5-Russian election returns indicate that the opposition will have a majority in the next Duma.

February 7.-A new French income-tax measure is introduced into the Chamber of Deputies.

February 9.-A great gathering of women in London demands the early attention of the British Parliament to the Female Suffrage bill.... A Russian imperial decree provides for the issue of $35,000,000 in 4 per cent. bonds to meet expenses for famine relief.

February 11.-The Shah sends a message to the Persian Parliament granting all the popular demands and recognizing constitutional govern

ment.

February 12.-The British Parliament is opened by King Edward....The Dutch ministry tenders its resignation to the Queen owing to the rejection of the army estimates.

February 13.-English "Suffragettes" make determined attempts to enter the House of Commons and fight fiercely with the police; sixty arrests are made.... Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, states in the British House of Commons that the government favors a liberal measure of home rule for Ireland.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

February 3.-The people of Nicaragua demand reparation from Honduras and oppose the action of President Velaya in agreeing to arbitrate an attack by Honduran troops on Nicaraguan forces.

February 7-Ambassador Leishmann communicates directly with the Sultan of Turkey on the question of the recognition of American schools.

February 9.-A movement against foreign influence in Persia results in the breaking out of a revolt at Tabriz....Negotiations between Honduras and Nicaragua are reported as broken off. February 10.-It is announced from Managua that the treaty of Corinto was broken by Honduras.

February 11.-It is announced from Washington that the United States, Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala will insist that Honduras and Nicaragua settle their differences by means of arbitration.

February 12.-The telegraphic text of a new Dominican treaty is laid before the United States Senate after its signing in Santo Domingo. February 13.-Ambassador Bryce sails from Liverpool for New York.

February 14-President Roosevelt receives assurances from the Presidents of Nicaragua and Honduras that they will accept arbitration.

February 15.-General Picquart, French Minister of War, says in the Chamber of Deputies that if the Germans are violating the neutral territory of Luxembourg France will take steps to meet the situation.

OTHER OCCURRENCES OF THE MONTH.

January 21.-One hundred and sixty-five cases of contagious diseases are reported in Chicago. January 22.-Prof. William James, of Harvard University, announces his withdrawal from active teaching.

MR. W. H. MALLOCK.

(The English philosopher, whose lectures at Columbia University on socialism attracted general attention last month.)

January 28.-Nearly 200 miners are killed by an explosion of fire damp in a Prussian government mine near Saarbrucken, Rhenish Prussia.... More than 100 lives are lost in a typhoon at Hong Kong.

January 30.-Stockholders of the Santa Fé Railroad vote a bond issue of $98,000,000.

January 31-Eighteen inches of snow fall in Berlin, Germany, the heaviest snowfall in many

years.

February 7.-Japanese troops suppress the rioting of miners in the Asio district....John D. Rockefeller gives securities valued at $32,000,000 to be administered by the General Education Board.

February 11.-More than 100 lives are lost by the sinking of the Joy liner Larchmont in Long Island Sound.

February 12.-W. H. Mallock gives the first of a series of five lectures on socialism at Columbia University, New York.

February 13.-Professor Brashear of the Allegheny Observatory announces the discovery of one of the largest sun spots ever found.

February 14-Pulajanes attack and burn two towns in Occidental Negros, killing six of the constabulary.