the land. It would be impossible to give more than three days' notice of the intended inspection of a holding, and he thought no practical inconvenience arose. Admittedly the bulk of improvements in Ireland were made by the tenant. In England they were made by the landlord. He did not think a system of making the landlord claim and prove his own improvements would work out equitably. His opinion was that the proper way to fix a fair rent would be to send out a valuer and let him inquire on the spot; and witness would then, on the valuer's report, make out an order fixing the rent. Either party might demand a hearing before the sub-commissioners, with an appeal to the present tribunal. He would have no court valuation unless in exceptional cases. Mr. W. F. Bailey, who had for ten years been engaged as an assistant legal commissioner, also gave evidence, the most interesting portion of which was an account of the improved condition of the agricultural labourer. He said he had frequently made local inquiries in Co. Down, one of the most important tillage counties. There were twenty judicial rents fixed there in one district. He got a table of wages, and found that in 1880 a labourer for the half-year got 81. 10s. with board, in 1890 91. 10s., and this year the wages had run up to 11. This rate of wages applied to the best class of labourers. The wages of the average labourer in 1880 was 71. 15s., in 1890 81. 10s., and in 1897 97. 10s. The wages of boys of fifteen had risen from 30s. for the half-year in 1880 to 5l. in 1890 and 67. in 1897. There had been a progressive increase in the standard of living also. In 1897 the hours of labour were shortened by two hours, from six to six.

The commission subsequently held sittings in Cork and Belfast, and a mass of evidence was taken relating to the value of farms, the rise and fall in the price of produce, and the remarkably increased prices paid for tenant-rights, more or less in proportion with the reduction of rents by judicial decision or amicable arrangement. It had not, however, completed its sittings before the close of the year, and consequently its recommendations were unknown.

The annual meeting of the Parnellites was as usual held at Dublin and attracted a large and sympathetic gathering; but the speech of the president, Mr. John Redmond, was not very hopeful for the success of his cause. He repeated his firm belief in Mr. Parnell's principles, which would regenerate Ireland, but he feared "that the year 1898 would dawn over a weak, divided and demoralised people." He further declared that Ireland had been befooled by the Liberals, and until Mr. Dillon repudiated that party it was absurd to talk of union with him. The Parnellites, moreover, objected to the dominance of the Church in politics. The Mayor of Cork thought that the financial injustice done to Ireland might be met by amalgamating all the railways, reducing the charges of trans

Q

port by 50 per cent., and recouping the shareholders by a grant from the British Treasury. Mr. William Redmond wound up the meeting by calling for three cheers for the Afridis, because they were fighting England and were natives of India struggling for freedom. Notwithstanding the readiness with which this appeal was answered, there was little to show that the feelings of the Irish were more embittered against "the predominant partner," but at the same time there was not the least trace of any drawing together of the two peoples, except so far as improved trade and a generally higher level of social comfort might deter many from joining in useless agitation.

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

FRANCE AND ITALY.

I. FRANCE.

THE most distinctive feature in the course of home politics in France during the year was the progress made by l'esprit nouveau, or, in other words, the reconciliation of the leaders of the Moderate Republican party with the Catholic Church. In foreign politics a certain hesitation to accept the full consequences of the much desired alliance with Russia began to show itself. This friendship, it was felt, necessarily entailed greater friendliness towards Germany, and more strained relations with Great Britain-a policy by no means supported by the most enlightened public opinion. The approach of the general elections, moreover, of which the importance was recognised on all sides, obliged political parties to define more clearly their respective attitudes towards public questions.

The Radicals had entertained great hopes that the senatorial elections held in the first month of the year would have strengthened their position in the country. M. Léon Bourgeois was most active in carrying on the campaign which he hoped would considerably lessen the number of Conservatives in the Upper Chamber. The result singularly falsified these hopes. The Haute-Garonne and the Gers were the only departments where Radicals replaced the outgoing senators. Toulouse the struggle had been carried on with the keenest rivalry, and every effort was made to oust the sitting members, M. Adrien Hébrard, political director of Le Temps, and M. Constans, who as minister had successfully withstood the Boulangist campaign. The efforts of the Radicals, however, were fruitless. At the second ballot M. Constans had a slight majority, but his opponents were able to demand a third trial, and on this occasion M. Paul de Rémusat, although he had notified his withdrawal, was returned. M. Constans nevertheless claimed the seat, and brought to the notice of the Senate the various irregularities of which he had been made the victim. Before the Committee of Inquiry had reported M. de Rémusat

died, and M. Constans was called upon to occupy the vacant seat without further appeal to the electors.

The final results of the senatorial elections showed 222 Republicans of various shades of moderate opinions, 40 Radicals and Socialists, and 30 Monarchists. Of the newly elected members 52 had in their programmes and speeches declared themselves opposed to any revision of the Constitution, while 16 were strongly in favour of it. Again 48 were hostile to the principle of a global and progressive income tax, but 14 adopted it unreservedly. There was thus little perceptible change in the composition of the Senate, which remained the citadel of Moderate Republicanism.

At the reassembling of the Chamber (Jan. 12), M. Loubet in the Senate and M. Brisson in the Chamber were re-elected Presidents without opposition. The latter in his inaugural speech surprised many of his friends by expressing the hope that the republic might "become tolerant; not only tolerant but generous, and open to all except conspirators." In these words M. Brisson, who sat for one of the divisions of Paris, clearly indicated the Clericals, whose present policy was nominally to accept the republican form of government, but actually to get possession of the parliamentary majority, and to revise the educational and the military laws which restricted the privileges of the Catholics. This was the actual line of cleavage between the Rallied and the older Republicans, and the Government, needing the support of both groups, found itself in an embarrassing position. In the Chamber their assurances were frankly republican; in the departments the préfets were instructed to conciliate the clergy, and to show every courtesy to the great landowners and to the Conservative members of the conseils généraux. This was the policy of tranquillity at home, balanced by activity abroad and by colonial expansion. Functions, at which a few years previously only those specially interested were present, were transformed into official ceremonies. The Hourst mission, on its return from a scientific expedition in the Soudan, was received at the Sorbonne (Jan. 15), ministers joining the committee of the Geographical Society in welcoming the travellers. Two days later, in the same hall, a committee formed by M. Bonvalot, the traveller, celebrated the second centenary of the birth of Dupleix, and again the Ministers of the Colonies and Public Instruction found an opportunity for making speeches. These speeches, doubtless, did not formally commit the Government, but they indicated very clearly the tendency of its policy; and the ratification by 305 to 138 votes of the appointment of M. Dourmer as Governor-General of the Indo-Chinese possessions showed that the Government was heartily supported by the Chamber.

The interminable question of sugar duties and sugar bounties next occupied the attention of the Chamber. The aggressive

policy of Germany had captured to a large extent the English market, and the French manufacturers were profiting but little from the burdens imposed on their account on French taxpayers. The Socialists, apparently from the desire to force the hand of the ministers, urged that the Government should retain in its hands the monopoly of sugar refining. M. H. Boucher, the Minister of Commerce, was, however, scarcely prepared to accept this extension of the powers of the State, and persuaded the Chamber to assent by 294 to 103 votes to the payment of a further premium on sugar exported.

If economical questions tended to provoke confusion among the various political groups, they rallied to their accustomed leaders at once on all questions relating to Church and School, and this was brought out very clearly in the election for one of the districts of Brest (Ushant), the old Chouan spirit of which had for a long period been represented in the Chamber by a priest. After the impetuous Alsatian Bishop of Angers, Mgr. Freppel, they had returned the supple and astute rector of the Catholic University of Paris, Mgr. Hulst. On the death of the latter, an abbé, Gayraud, previously a Dominican monk, managed to get himself accepted by the local committees, asserting that his candidature was approved at Rome. By these means he obtained an easy victory over his opponent, the Prince de Léon, who had been put forward by the royalists. This election attracted attention far and wide, for it indicated the tactics which the Catholics might at any moment adopt, and presaged nothing good for either Monarchists or Republicans, or any political party. A few days later the Chamber had to decide the validity of a doctor of medicine, returned by the district of Pontarlier, in succession to the witty Voltairian, Dionis Ordinaire. Dr. Grenier on being elected gravely announced himself to be a conforming Mussulman, and afforded the Parisians the edifying spectacle of performing the required ablutions in public. As there was no question of irregularity in the doctor's election, the Chamber took no heed of the eccentricities of their colleague, of which the Catholics alone saw the way to draw a profitable lesson from his earnestness in matters of faith. They allowed in fact no opportunity to pass, inside or outside the walls of Parliament, of attempting to put a curb upon the civil authorities in all matters concerning education and the management of religious houses.

It was not always that the Government found itself supported by the people in its attitude towards the Church party. At Bordeaux the students protested strongly against the official ceremonies arranged to mark the inauguration of the local university, and it was found that this hostility was not limited to the students only. The Minister of Public Instruction, consequently, thought fit to publish a circular (Feb. 1), in which he laid down the conditions under which public functionaries dependent on his department were permitted to form