of the Peace Congress at New York last month. The German Government has also decided to arrange a modus vivendi with our Government for the extension, for a year from July 1 of the present year, of the tariff understanding by which we secure the benefit of the most-favored-nation clause in our treaty with the fatherland. Exchanges of appreciative sentiments have also marked the past few weeks. Ambassador Tower, at a dinner given to him in New York, alluded to the German Emperor as one of the wisest sovereigns and greatest statesmen now living in the world. The German Empire is prosperous economically. Commerce and trade are flourishing, and, in general, the German people seem to be happy and contented. The colonial problem still presses for settlement, but by the results of the last general election it is apparent that, in the main, Germans indorse the policies of their government. A GROUP OF TYPICAL ROUMANIAN PEASANTS. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY (This is the type of Balkan farmer who, last month, caused so much destruction of life and property in rioting against the Jews and rich landlords.) The SERVIA W LLA ᎨᏒ •Crajova Danube R. Rustchuk SIA BLACK DOBRUDSHA SEA BULGARIA Varna Sofia EASTERN ROUMELIA T U R Seres Salonika, Philippopolis EGEAN SEA Adrianople E Y Constantinople Gallipoli CSEA OF MARMORA Brussao ASIA MINOR RGUMANIA IN ITS RELATION TO AUSTRIA, RUSSIA, AND TURKEY. checked more than 100,000 troops were employed; the capital, Bucharest, was in a state of siege, and martial law was proclaimed throughout the country. At first the character of the uprising seems to have been purely agrarian. The peasants demanded land at low prices and tried to throw off the yoke of the middlemen, who are mostly Jews. As the revolt spread, villages, farms, and even some towns were plundered and destroyed by wholesale. Hundreds of peasants were killed, and in several sections a state of real war existed for more than a week. King Charles issued a proclamation to his people promising the redress of their grievances. The Conservative ministry resigned on March 24 and a Liberal government was at once formed under the presidency of Dr. Sturdza. The dissolute Roumanian nobles, who are absentee landlords of most of the large estates and peasant villages, are undoubtedly to blame for most of the trouble. They exact high rents and refuse improvements. Most of their agents are Jews, who are accused of heavily oppressing the peasants. Legislation now in the Roumanian Parliament promises to go a great way toward solving the agrarian question. No doubt, as we intimated last month, Rus Very unexpectedly last month Roumanian came the news of serious agrarian Jacqueries. and anti-Semitic riots in Roumania, great destruction of life and property being wrought in both provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia. Before the revolt could be sian reactionaries are behind much of the disorder, although a good deal is due to the general hatred of the Jews, which is very fanatical in its intensity in Roumania. It was against the treatment of the Roumanian Jew, it will be remembered, that the late Secretary John Hay presented, in 1902, the remonstrance from our Government against that persecution which drove so many undesirable Hebrews to our shores. The group of peasants shown on the preceding page is reproduced from Archibald Colquhoun's recent volume, "The Whirlpool of Europe." It is upon the relations between the Premier and the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, the Duma, that the question of orderly progress in the empire now turns. On the whole, it may be said that despite several tilts over minor matters, such as the employment of civilian experts, the investigation of zemstvo statistics, and some brushes with the courts over the privileges of members charged with sedition, Premier Stolypin seems to have convinced the Duma and the country of his sincerity and determination to carry through the reforms which he has submitted to Parliament. During April there had been talk of a dissolution of the Duma, and troops, it was announced, were being quietly assembled around the palace in St. Petersburg with this end in view. We have secured from Mr. Aladin, one of the ablest of the Russian peas Will the Duma Be Dissolved? A RUSSIAN HONEYMOON. NICHOLAS "What! A present? Have you really got a little bomb for me, darling, in your pocket?" DUMA: "Yes, dearest. And haven't you a halter for me?" From Fischietto (Turin). ant leaders, and a member of the first Duma, who is now in this country, a statement of his views as to the privileges and limitations of the second Parliament. This will be found on page 551. No doubt the Duma has learned wisdom. The point of real progress made in legislation during the past few weeks was the reference (on April 9) to a committee for consideration of the government budget for 1907. A new loan may be necessary to cover the financial losses which Finance Minister Kokovtsev says are due to the three causes, war, rebellion, and famine. The real work of the session beLegislation gan on March 20 with the orEffected. ganization of the various committees, which in the Russian Parliament are elected instead of being appointed. The question of the abolition of courts-martial was one most fiercely debated, and on this point the Premier and the Parliament came to an issue. Mr. Stolypin declared that to abolish courts-martial at the present moment would be premature, since "the real goal of the Radicals is rebellion." He agreed, however, to apply the court-martial system only in the most imperative cases. It was a startlingly significant fact that while the Premier was making this announcement a compilation of the execution and assassination figures for the past seven months was published. Since August last 1080 men and women have been hanged or shot under sentence of the military courts. The other side of the picture is equally appalling. During the same period, the figures inform us, 1242 wearers of the Czar's coat died at the hands of assassins. Prominent among these was the well-known Liberal editor of the Russkaya Vyedomosti, Dr. Jallov, a former member of the Duma. The problem of land still presses. While Parliament and the government argue, it is becoming evident that this land question will before long be settled by the peasants, who are, without formality and generally with violence, taking the land for themselves. By the death (on March 23) of Constantin Petrovich Pobyedonostsev, ex-Procurator of the Holy Synod, the most conspicuous and consistent exponent of the old order in Russia passed away. He was eighty years of age and the most famous and feared of all the reactionary statesmen. During the reigns of two monarchs he was a veritable "shadow on the throne," hiding all the better features of the autocratic system by his reactionary sentiments and actions. The threat of the associated foodsupplies trades of France to declare a general strike on May 1,-which all labor and socialistic organizations are wont to regard as the proper time for showing their strength,-did not alarm Paris. Premier Clémenceau, who, it will be remembered, is also Minister of the Interior, has a vigorous and prompt way of dealing with problems of public order, and his effective measures last year at the labor demonstrations will not soon be forgotten in the French capital. It is evident that the movement toward trade-union organization among French officials is assuming such proportions that the entire force of government workers will soon be enabled to bring about a general strike. Events of domestic interest attracting attention during the present month in France are the opening, on May 1, of the maritime exposition at Bordeaux, to which we have already alluded in these pages; the vote by the Chamber of Deputies to examine, edit, and publish the contents of the documents seized upon the expulsion from France, some months ago, of the papal nuncio, Mgr. Montagnini, and the appointment of a governmental commission to investigate the state of the French navy. This last was the result of the aroused feeling over the fatal explosion on the battleship Jena on March 12. In the international relations of the republic the happenings of pre-eminent interest were the signing, on March 24, of the Franco-Siamese treaty, by which France obtains three rich provinces in farther Asia, and the occupation by French troops of the Moroccan town of Oudja, a small walled place near the Algerian frontier. The murder of a French citizen, Dr. Mauchamp, by Mohammedan fanatics in Marakesh (Morocco City) was the occasion of this movement on the part of France. None of the powers signatory to the Algeciras convention has offered any protest to this action, and the governments of most of them have expressed the hope that this vigorous action on the part of France is the beginning of a new order of things in the distracted Sheriffian empire. Happenings in France. Great advance in our knowledge of tropical hygiene, the discovery of vastly rich mineral deposits all over the continent, and the utilization of na-. tive labor in working out the white man's ideas in railroad building, city founding, and Italy. Africa to the Front. land cultivation,-these are the three prime factors in the phenomenal awakening of Africa. So far has the development of this great division of the earth's surface gone at present that within a few years it may confidently be predicted the peasants of Europe will be streaming southward to find a home under the African sun. The heart of the continent, that vast equatorial region known as the Congo Free State, has for many years proved an apparently inexhaustible mine of wealth for its Belgian exploiters. Along the northern coast, and far into the mysterious depths of the Sahara, France has been exploring and developing. Algeria is hers, and Morocco earmarked for her influence at least. Germany owns great stretches of splendid country in the east and the southwest. Portugal, Spain, and Italy still hold valuable portions. One suffer in comparison with that of Clive, or two native kingdoms retain their independent sovereignty, chief among these being Abyssinia. But it is to England that the finest portions of the continent, those habitable by white men, owe allegiance. Britain rules as her own, or in the interest of her native wards, nearly one-third of Africa. Except ABBAS HILMI, KHEDIVE OF EGYPT. for the interruption of German East Africa, there is a red streak, as Mr. Kipling put it, from Alexandria to Cape Town. Cromer, Egypt. Hastings, or Cecil Rhodes. During his term as financial adviser to the Khedive, since 1883, Lord Cromer has rescued Egypt from a political and financial corruption surpassing even that of Turkey, and has made it one of the really prosperous countries of the world, worthy of its ancient glory. His unusual success with Indian budgets (he was financial member of the Council of India for several years) suggested his appointment to Cairo as one of the Controllers-General of Egyptian finance, his colleague being a Frenchman. Then world politics reshaped themselves and England gradually became supreme in Egypt. Lord Cromer came to stand for England and for all that is best and ablest in English administrative capacity. Under him the taxation system of Egypt has been thoroughly reorganized, forced labor abolished, justice administered according to a regular code, the rights of property recognized by law; there is a surplus in the treasury, and the country enjoys the benefits of a system of irrigation which is a model for the entire world. As he leaves office, it is announced that the famous Assouan Dam is to be raised so as to bring under cultivation nearly 10,000,000 additional acres of land. While accomplishing all this Lord Cromer at the same time had to cope with foreign intrigue, to restrain an impulsive and untrained young Khedive, and keep a sharp eye on conspirators in Constantinople. He will be succeeded by Sir Eldon Gorst, at present Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Egypt and Pan In his last annual report, submitted early in April, Lord CroIslamism. mer sounded a warning note to the European powers on the subject of the strength and progress of pan-Islamism. This movement, which he believes to be antiChristian in its aims, he identifies largely with the new nationalist movement in Egypt. To meet the demands of the nationalist movement he suggests a sort of modified home rule for the country, to be realized through the establishment of a local international legislative council with full power to deal with Egyptian affairs, subject only to the votes of the British and Egyptian governments. Although apparently not realizing Modern Egypt is a monument Maker of to the administrative and executive genius of Lord Cromer, who, it was announced in the British Parliament early in April, has resigned his post as real ruler of the realm. Nominally subject to Turkey, with an Ottoman High Commissioner resident at Cairo, and under the titular rule of the Khedive Abbas Hilmi, the Egypt of the past quarter of a century has actually been under the absolute control of His Majesty King Edward's Agent, Consul-General and Minister Plenipotentiary, the Right Honorable Earl of Cromer, that the Egyptian is able "to stand upon his G.C.B., G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I., and C.I.E. Sir Evelyn Baring, Lord Cromer, has been the maker of Egypt and one of the builders of the British Empire, whose work does not feet and be a man" because of Cromer's work, the Khedive maintains that to-day the people of his country are quite capable of taking care of their own concerns. He de nies that the nationalist movement is antiforeign or fanatical. In a recent interview with the correspondent of the Paris Temps the Khedive said: This_conservative people is a people of progress. I have followed its development day by day, surprised at the prodigious facility wherewith it assimilates itself to European culture. . I have seen in our factories the most intricate machines handled by Egyptians. The engineers who took me round observed, not without pride, that the entire personnel consisted of natives who had been trained in a few weeks. That intelligence has found application in the development of modern civilization in Egypt. The day is approaching when the Egyptian peasant will be the equal of the peasant of the most civilized country. The finances have recovered stability. The confidence of Europe has come back to us in such a measure that Cairo and Alexandria are two of the most important financial centers of the world. International concern for the Egyptian debt being henceforth at an end, it is time to devote all our efforts not only toward the material welfare of the population, but toward the satisfaction of their intellectual and moral requirements. LORD CROMER, THE MAKER OF MODERN EGYPT. It is quite wrong to allege that the national claims assume the form of an anti-foreign and fanatical movement. I emphatically deny it. Tolerance is one of the great laws of our religion; the Koran, teaches us to respect all the prophets, whether those of the Christians or those of the Jews. We are all profoundly at- (Who resigned last month as England's representatached to our religion and faithful to its teachings. Believe me, I have traveled a great deal, and if all men followed the moral precepts of their religion with the same scrupulousness as the Mussulmans there would be less wickedness tive in Cairo.) in the world. I say so less to glorify our race than to answer the charges of fanaticism, which revolt us. No one of us can do it alone; but if we are going to cut one another down in this way the result will be more murder than ever. From Ulk (Berlin). Preparing for When that, august the Hague assembly, the second Conference. International Peace Congress, meets at the old Dutch capital on June 15, it will include among its accredited delegates representatives from every independent nation on the globe, with the single exception of the African negro Republic of Liberia. For the first time all the SouthAmerican republics will be represented at an international gathering of this nature. As now planned, the conference will meet in the Hall of the Knights, which is a part of the old palace built in the middle of the thirteenth century. The United States Government will be represented by Ex-Ambassadors Choate and Porter; Judge U. M. Rose, of Arkansas, former president of the American Bar Association; Dr. David J. Hill, United States Minister |