which was his under the former ministry. ExPremier Dupuy has a place in the new cabinet, and so also has M. Poincarre, both of these politicians being men of exceptional ability. The socialists are giving effect to their announced policy of annoying and harassing in every possible way each new cabinet as it arises and each president who is called to the chief magistracy of France. It is easy to believe that the Ribot ministry will be very short-lived, but one may feel some confidence in the opinion that President Faure will show better staying qualities than his predecessor. Most people had forgotten that Marshal Canrobert, of Crimean fame, still survived. His recent death at an advanced age revived much interest in his career, and the Chambers accorded him a public funeral, against the insulting protests of the socialists.

The Late M. de Giers.

THE LATE M. DE GIERS, OF RUSSIA.

The news from Russia has brought two items that will take an important place in the permanent history of the empire. One of these events is the death of the aged foreign minister and chief adviser of the Czar, M. de Giers. For several years he had been in an enfeebled condition, and he had of late remained so far as possible behind the scenes, nursing his broken health. He had served his country for many years in diplomatic capacities before he became foreign minister. He was a disciple of his great predecessor, who was also his friend and relative, Count Gortschakoff. De Giers, like the late Czar whom he served so faithfully, was of a peaceloving disposition. But where the Czar was blunt and tactless De Giers was full of diplomatic resources and understood all the arts of conciliation.

and in what seemed to be so reasonable and so tolerant a spirit, that it came to be hoped in some quarters that he might look with favor upon a slight further development of representative self-government in the provincial and local councils. But he has sternly rebuked all such aspirations, and has informed the nobles and aristocratic elements that he would stand firmly where his father stood and maintain the absolutism of the Czar without impairment at any point. It is just possible that he may live to regret this pronunciamento. The grand difference between this young gentleman and his lamented father lies in the fact that Alexander had demonstrated his capacity and his faithfulness as an absolute ruler, while Nicholas has yet to give some evidence of possessing even average ability and character.

Crispi and his King.

From Italy the news is conflicting, and Crispi still continues to overshadow both his companions and his sovereign. One of the events of the month-perhaps the event-was his marriage to a princess of old family. The Prime Minister and ex-Republican is now the son-in-law of a prince and the chief mainstay of his sovereign, but the ugly rumors of corruption continue to be consistently bandied about, and from southern Italy reports are rife as to the civil discontent which may at any moment come to a head. Crispi has so long contrived to swagger in the foretop of the state that people are beginning to feel as if he could defy all the machinations of his adversaries; but if he should go, there may be troublous scenes in the Peninsula, and it will be well for the land if King Humbert can show that he is not devoid of the governing faculty of his father. Elsewhere in this number we publish an instructive character sketch of M. Crispi, upon whom the eyes of all European statesmen are now fixed with intense concern for the immediate future of Italy.

Three

Two great English scholars and university Englishmen educators, both of whom were as highly of Note. esteemed in the United States as in their own country, have lately passed away. One of these was Professor J. R. Seeley, the great historical scholar, an apostle of Anglo-Saxon expansion in the higher sense of the idea, and a luminous and brilliant author. The other was Professor Arthur Cayley, one of the most eminent mathematicians of our age, and one of the best and gentlest of men. It will be remembered that Professor Cayley some years ago spent a semester at the Johns Hopkins University with his friend Professor Sylvester, for the benefit of American mathematical students. The death of Lord Randolph Churchill has brought to an untimely end a political career which once seemed to promise everything, but which failed as much through other defects as through Lord Randolph's physical decline. With all his political genius, Lord Randolph Churchill lacked steadfastness of character, and patient devotion to his tasks. At a remarkably early age he rose to the high post of leader of the House of Com

mons, with every prospect that one day he would become Prime Minister of England. But through what seemed caprice of temper he abandoned his post, and his influence was never regained.

The American Obituary Record.

The obituary record for the United States contains the names of many people of great worth and of honorable public service; although in the month covered by our list, perhaps no names of international eminence are to be found. Mr. Gray, of Indiana, our Minister in Mexico, has died at his official post. In Boston the Rev. Dr. A. J. Gordon, one of the most useful and most eloquent men in the American pulpit, has been called away in the very midst of his labors. The Rev. William M. Taylor, D.D., of New York, had been completely disabled by paralysis two or three years ago. His death was, therefore, not wholly unexpected. Dr. Taylor had won great distinction as a Presbyterian minister and a religious author long before he was called from his British home to the pastorate of the Broadway Tabernacle in New York. The late Charles A. Gayarre, who died on February 10 at New Orleans, having attained the age of 90, was elected to the United States Senate sixty years ago. He held various public offices in his own state, and spent many years in France, gathering materials for a history of Louisiana, which he published half a century ago. It has held its place as a standard work. Dr. Loomis, of New York, was a physician of the highest eminence.

On the 18th of February there was celebrated George the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Peabody. Peabody, a business man whose philanthropic disposition of his wealth has blessed the Englishspeaking world in manifold ways. Mr. Peabody was born in a Massachusetts town which has changed its name from South Danvers to Peabody, in honor of his benefactions. George Peabody's successful business enterprises took him to London, where he became a great banker. He bequeathed a large sum of money which should be held as a fund for the improvement of the dwellings of the working people of London. With the income of this fund, improved model tenements have been erected from time to time, until there must be now nearly 10,000 people living in the so-called "Peabody models." It would be an interesting subject of speculation to attempt an estimate of the number of people who will be living in the Peabody model tenements of London a hundred years hence, when the second centenary is commemorated. Of Mr. Peabody's philanthropies in this country the largest one took the form of an educational fund, the proceeds of which are used in the encouragement of schools in the southern states. This fund has been and remains in the hands of administrators of great wisdom and experience; and untold benefits have already resulted from the judicious distribution of its annual income. In the city of Baltimore there is a noble public edifice which is known as the Peabody

Institute. It contains a wonderful reference library of 100,000 volumes or more, an art gallery, a school of music, an auditorium for lectures and orchestra concerts, and rooms for scientific and literary classes and societies. This building was Mr. Peabody's gift to the city. The library has grown out of his endowments; and all the activities that centre in this fine institution are in like manner supported by funds which the great philanthropist provided. He founded a Peabody Institute of somewhat similar scope in his native Massachusetts town, and other philanthropies might be added to the list. George Peabody's public gifts were hampered by no restrictions which can ever make them obsolete. They meet present-day conditions as perfectly as if they had been planned to-day instead of many years ago. Few lovers of their fellow men have builded so wisely for the future.

Perpetuating the Memory of Putnam.

Last month we made reference to certain movements for the perpetuation of historical memories in Virginia. The recent death of the venerable Douglas Putnam at Marietta, Ohio, brings freshly to mind the circumstances under which his ancestral kinsman Gen. Rufus Putnam led the band of colonists who in 1788, -as an immediate consequence of their triumph in securing that great charter of liberty the Northwest Ordinance of 1787,-planted at Marietta the pioneer Ohio community. Out of the Northwestern Territory of Rufus Putnam's day have been evolved the great states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Not only at Marietta where he died in 1824 has there been shown an interest in the preservation of everything pertaining to Gen. Putnam and his planting of the first Ohio settlement, but also in Massachusetts the towns where Gen. Putnam lived have awakened to a realization of the greatness of that revolutionary hero. It was at Rutland, Massachusetts, that Rufus Putnam lived for some years previous to his removal to the mouth of the Muskingum river in Ohio; and the Putnam house, at Rutland, has lately been purchased by a public association, in order to preserve it as an historical memorial. The fresh appreciation of the services of Gen. Putnam has

been largely due to the efforts of Senator George F. Hoar and the Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale. Senator Hoar is president of the Rutland Association, Mr. Arthur P. Rugg, of Worcester, is secretary, and Gen. Francis A. Walker, of Boston, is treasurer. The old house is in an almost perfect state of preservation, its timbers being as solid as could be desired. It was bought the other day for the modest sum of four thousand dollars, and the title is to be placed in the hands of the Massachusetts trustees of public reservations. In this house, as we are informed, it is proposed to assemble as many as possible of the books, documents and pictures that relate to Rufus Putnam and to the Massachusetts men who co-operated with him in securing the Ordinance of 1787, and in settling Ohio, together with anything else that may illustrate the part that New England played in opening up the West. The plans for the settlement of Ohio were worked out in this Rutland house, shown in our accompanying illustration.

Rufus Putnam had not spent his whole Quabang's Awakened Pride life at Rutland, but he belonged rather of History. to North Brookfield, where he had lived for twenty-five or thirty years. In the olden days North Brookfield was called Quabang. As one of the results of the awakened interest in Gen. Putnam's career, the Quabang Historical Society has been formed at North Brookfield, and it is engaged in collecting much valuable historical material. If it had come into being a few years sooner, it would have preserved the cottage in which so large a part of the life of Rufus Putnam had been spent. This cottage survived until 1885, when it was demolished. The Rev. J. J. Spencer, a young Ohio clergyman, now located at North Brookfield, has been particularly active in the development of the Quabang Historical Society, of which Mr. Robert Bacheller, an enthusiastic local archæologist, is president, and in which Senator Hoar, Dr. Hale, Gen. Walker, Mr. Edwin D. Mead and other distinguished citizens of Massachusetts are actively interested. It was in old Quabang that General Putnam lived during the Revolutionary war and the period previous to it; and the North Brookfield people may justly claim that it was their fellow citizen

THE LATE DOUGLAS PUTNAM, OF MARIETTA, O.

BEE PAGE 294.

who was Washington's compatriot and great friend. Indeed, this close friendship between Rufus Putnam and George Washington had perhaps more than anything else to do with the opening of the Northwestern Territory; for Washington had long dreamed of the future greatness of that region, and his early experiences had brought its possibilities within the range of his personal knowledge. Putnam, like Washington, had been a surveyor before the war, had pursued his vocation for a time in the South, and was the better prepared for a movement into the great wilderness. North Brookfield's new historical consciousness is typical of a mood that begins to prevail throughout Massachusetts and New England. Every locality must be made the better and the richer by the efforts it puts forth to honor and to preserve its own best memories and traditions.

January 21.-Congress: The Senate discusses the President's Hawaiian policy, and passes the Fortification appropriation bill ($1,935,557); the House passes the Chicago Public Building bill, appropriating $4,000,000.... The Nevada legislature meets....Eugene V. Debs and his associates, in jail for contempt of court, are admitted to bail....A separate receivership is ordered in the case of the main line of the Union Pacific; the present receivers are appointed by the court at St. Louis.... M. Bourgeois announces his failure to form a Cabinet in France....Extensive floods in the Thames Valley and southwestern counties of England.....M. Szilagyi elected President of the Hungarian Diet....Welsh Land Inquiry Commission opened in London.

January 22.-Congress: In the Senate, the Hawaiian resolutions and the Nicaragua Canal bill are debated; in the House, the Indian appropriation bill and the Gettysburg National Park bill are passed, and the conference report on the Urgent Deficiency bill, carrying the appropriation for the collection of the income tax, is agreed to.... The following United States Senators are elected: George C. Perkins (Cal.); Francis E. Warren, long term, and Clarence D. Clark, short term, (Wyo.); Isham G. Harris (Tenn.); Shelby M. Cullom (Ill.); Lucien Baker (Kan.); Horace Chilton (Tex.), and W. J. Sewell (N. J.)....The National Manufacturers' Convention meets in Cincinnati. ....A bill to prohibit grade crossings of steam railroads by electric, cable or horse railroads becomes a law in Connecticut....The Tricoupis Cabinet in Greece resigns. ....The Imperial Government authorizes the Governor of Newfoundland to give his assent to the bill removing the disabilities of members of the Assembly unseated for corruption....Resignation of President Peña of the Argentine Republic.

January 23.-Congress: In the Senate, Mr. Burrows (Rep., Mich.) takes his seat, and two new financial bills are introduced; the House considers the Sundry Civil appropriation bill....The following United States Senators are elected: Knute Nelson (Minn.), Stephen B. Elkins (W. Va.), and Richard F. Pettigrew (S. Dak.).... Señor Uriburu sworn in as President of the Argentine Republic, and a new Cabinet formed ... The Chinese Northern fleet blockaded at Wei-Hai-Wei by the Japanese.

January 24.-Congress: The Senate debate on the Nicaragua Canal bill is closed; the House continues consideration of the Sundry Civil bill....Two banks are closed at Binghamton, N. Y., because of the embezzlement of funds by a man serving as cashier of each bank. ....Twenty-nine Western railroads form a new rate association....Judge Gaynor, of the Supreme Court, decides that the Brooklyn Heights street railway company must run its cars.... Ex-Queen Liliuokalani abdicates all claim to the throne of Hawaii; the trial of the conspirators against the existing government is begun.... Formation of a new Greek Cabinet with M. Nikolaos Delyannis as Premier.

January 25.-Congress: The Senate passes the Nicaragua Canal bill, by which the government receives $70,000,000 of stock in the company; the House passes the Sundry Civil appropriation bill ($39,037,721)....A run on the Binghamton (N. Y.) banks is forestalled by timely aid from the New York City banks.... The British and

MR. GEORGE CLAUSEN,
The New Associate of the Royal Academy.

to 22; in the House, the bill to repeal the differential sugar duty is debated....A snowstorm blocks railway traffic in many Western states....Extensive cutting of trolley wires in Brooklyn....An insurrection is reported in the United States of Colombia. M. Ribot forms a new French Cabinet....Legislative Council at Victoria passes the income-tax bill; and the Assembly agrees to fix the Governor's salary at $35,000.

January 27.-Emperor William's birthday celebrated throughout Germany.

January 28.-Congress: A message from President Cleveland urging immediate action for the relief of the national treasury is received in both branches; in the Senate, the Bankruptcy bill is taken up; in the House, the repeal of the differential sugar duty is further discussed....The New York City militia is ordered home from Brooklyn....The Papal encyclical to the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is made public.... An anti-gambling amendment to the New Jersey constitution is adopted by the legislature at Trenton....President Faure's message is read to the French Chamber.... The Colombian insurgents are defeated in the State of Cauca.

January 29.-Congress: The Senate debates the Bankruptcy bill; the House passes the bill repealing the differential duty on sugar imported from bounty-paying countries by a vote of 239 to 31.... Senator James H. Berry, of Arkansas, is re-elected....The Rhode Island legislature meets and repeals the exemption of agricultural societies in the pool law of 1894....Gov. Turney, of Tennessee, signs the bill providing for an investigation of the charges of fraud at the election in November, 1894, when H. Clay