danger of a war between Colombia, which owns the Isthmus of Panama, and the neighbouring Governments of Venezuela and Ecuador.

How it affects

the

United States.

Now such a war might at any time endanger the security of the Isthmus of Panama. Should the disturbance threaten the isthmus, the United States would be bound to intervene, and this not on account of the Monroe doctrine, but because of the Convention of July 12, 1848, by which the United States guaranteed positively and efficaciously to protect the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama with a view that the free transit from one to the other sea "might not be interrupted at any future time while this treaty exists." By the same treaty the United States guaranteed in the same manner the rights of sovereignty and property which New Granada, now one of the states of Colombia, has and possesses over the said territory. In 1885 a formidable revolution in Colombia spread to the state of Panama, and the American Government then acted promptly, sent ships to both sides of the isthmus, landed marines, and took action which, while fulfilling their agreement to preserve the freedom of traffic in Panama, also largely helped to suppress the insurrection. This was early in the year. Late in the same year, when conditions were again disturbed, the Government of Washington once more promptly reinforced its squadron in the waters adjacent to Colombia. Subsequent to the dispatch of ships

A United States instead of a State of Discord. THE AMERICAN EAGLE: "What you folks want is to get together and have an uncle of your own."

of

squalid South American quarrel. The precise reason why war has broken out between Colombia and her neighbours is involved in some obscurity, nor do the intrinsic merits of the question seem to matter very much. According to what seems to be the most generally accepted version, the Governments of Ecuador and Venezuela have fostered a revolutionary movement in Colombia, to which the Colombian Government replies by sending troops across the frontier into Venezuela, which, if seriously attacked, will be supported by the Government of Ecuador. Ecuador and Venezuela are in the hands a Liberal Anti-Clerical Government, whereas the Colombian Government is dominated by Conservatives and Clericals. The Colombian Government hopes by fomenting an insurrection in Venezuela to upset the Government of the President or Dictator, Senor Castro. The Colombian authorities maintain that it is impossible to secure peace at home unless they wage war abroad against those who feed the forces of disorder within the States of Colombia. Whatever the intrinsic merits of the dispute may be, there seems to be no question that there is imminent

last month, it was reported that the railroad was in free operation and that the trouble in Panama seemed at an end.

Will they

The United States, being bound by this Convention, will probably act acquire Panama? again as they acted before, and, unless the war can be damped down,

it is probable that we shall see the United States troops in command of both ends of the Panama railway. Dr. Shaw, writing upon the subject in the current number of the American Review of Reviews, argues in favour of the purchase of the Isthmus of Panama from Colombia at a fair price. Events, he remarks, may show that the time is nearly ripe for the United States to acquire Panama as well as to assume new relations to Nicaragua. This points to an early expansion of the United States, which may give diplomatists on both sides of the sea a good deal more to do than they have at present. The French gentleman already quoted, who has just returned from Colombia, where he was nearly killed by the revolutionists, declared that the French diplomatists whom he has interviewed are all desirous of European intervention. He says:

:

It is necessary for our commerce, for our financial interests, for our moral situation, for the Panama Canal; in fact, for everything. Common action is necessary on the part of France, England, Germany, and Italy, who have interests to defend and to preserve.

to France.

It is not very likely that the French The Tsar's Visit Government will respond to this appeal; but it is to be feared that the acquisition or actual seizure of the Panama Isthmus by the American Government would weaken the French Ministry much more than it will be strengthened by the other great event, the promise of which was brought us last month. I refer to the approaching visit of the Emperor and Empress of Russia to the allied nation of France. The Tsar, accompanied by his wife, left St. Petersburg at the end of last month to attend the family reunion at Copenhagen; from thence he is to proceed to Dantzig, where he will meet the Kaiser and Count Bülow in the Dantzig Roads, a visit of ceremony which is probably intended to take the edge off any uneasiness which might be felt at the reception which awaits the Tsar in France. Fresh from his conversation with the Kaiser, the Tsar will proceed to Dunkirk, and thence he will travel to Rheims, where he will witness the autumn manœuvres. One hundred and sixty thousand French troops will pass before the monarch, who is so far chiefly famous on account of his detestation of militarism. When this more or less

painful ordeal is ended he will proceed to Compiègne, where great preparations are being made for his reception. The French are naturally pleased at this visit of their august ally. The newspapers publish rumours that the visit will result in a possible European representation to Great Britain on the subject of the prolongation of the war in South Africa, and the methods of barbarism employed by our military commanders. This is too good news to be true. If there is any truth in it, the question will not be settled at Rheims or Compiègne, but on board the German battleship at Dantzig, where the Tsar will meet the Kaiser.

Simultaneously with the announceThe Near East ment of the approaching visit of and the Tsar to France, there is quite its Forebodings. a crop of rumours as to possible developments in the Balkan Peninsula. The Roumanians, for some reason or other, seem to be a little scared concerning the development of Russian policy in their neighbourhood, and are displaying some desire to bury themselves yet more deeply in the Austrian embrace. On the other side of the Danube there is an astonishing story to the effect that the Prince of Montenegro is to be recognised as the Heir to the Servian throne, in case Queen Draga should fail to perpetuate the Obrenovitch dynasty. There is more talk concerning the Italian aspirations in Albania, and altogether the Near Eastern horizon, if not exactly dark with clouds, does not seem quite so serene as it was twelve months ago. The unrest in Macedonia continues, and while these uneasy rumblings are heard in the Balkans, Russia's ally, France, has had so serious a difference with the Sultan as to withdraw her ambassador as a protest against what she regards as the bad faith of the Ottoman Government.

The

with the Sultan.

The quarrel between France and the French Dispute Porte is financial, and can be settled by cash. The Turkish Government owes various French subjects about £2,000,000, which it refuses to pay. Add to this the objection of the Sultan to hand over the titledeeds of the land which was granted to a French company for the construction of quays to the port of Galata. The French company did not find quay-building very profitable, but owing to the absence of title-deeds it could not effect any sale. The Sultan was thereupon asked to pay compensation, which was fixed at the sum of 41 million francs. This he at first refused, then afterwards promised to do: