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enthusiastic over the installation of a Roman Catholic as Prime Minister. But although no one can deny the genuineness of the Catholicism of Mr. Laurier, he was thrown into sharp antagonism with the Bishops of his Church. If there is one country in the whole world where the voters are supposed to be priest-ridden, it is in the province of Quebec. But at the last election the whole force of the Catholic hierarchy, from the Archbishop down to the parish priests, was thrown against Mr. Laurier, on the ground that he was opposed to the so-called Remedial Bill which had been introduced for the purpose of establishing separate Catholic schools in Manitoba. The drum ecclesiastic was beaten with might and with main, while the doctrine that a Catholic citizen must vote as his priest tells him was asserted with the most uncompromising emphasis; but the only result was that instead of securing a majority for the Conservative, Mr. Laurier carried no fewer than fifty out of sixty-five seats. The worm has turned at last with a vengeance. There is no need for entering into the Significance details of the Manitoba question. of his will not be settled in the precise way proposed by Sir Charles Tupper, but it will be settled by some compromise to which the Catholics will be all the more willing to agree because it will be negotiated by one of their own Church, and because they will have a salutary recollection of the mischief of "trying it on" too far. Apart Apart from this question, Mr. Laurier's accession to power is heartily to be welcomed upon two grounds. First, because the Liberals, who have been out of office for twenty years, ought to have their innings if the good constitutional principle is to be kept up of having two trained teams always ready to take the field. Nothing is worse for a party than to be constantly in opposition, unless it is being constantly in office. The second great gain is that the French Canadians are now able to feel that they have a man of their own race as Prime Minister of the Dominion. Nothing promotes loyalty so much as the simple expedient of making the people feel that loyalty to the State is loyalty to themselves. It is only the people who are permanently kept on the outside track who endeavour to "bust up the show." Of Mr. Laurier's loyalty there is not the shadow of a doubt, any more than there is of his honesty and truthfulness. He once declared, "I am loyal to the flag of England because under the banner of England my fellow-countrymen have found ten times more freedom than they would have

found had they remained subject to France;" but he had no hesitation in saying that muce as he loved England, he loved Canada still more, and if their interests ever clashed, he would be for Canada against England. To that some exception has been taken in this country, but surely it is the very condition upon which we hold our Colonies. We never expect any Colonist to advocate the. interests of the mother country against those of his own Colony. What Scotchman, for instance, would dream of siding with England against Scotland if the interests of the two countries came into collision? This is, however, a very different thing from believing that whenever there is a difference of opinion between the partners there should be a dissolution. of partnership. The permanent interest of all the partners in the continuance of the firm is greater than any separate interest which one could. secure by withdrawal. It is this conviction which has kept the Empire together until now, and the moment it disappears the Empire will go to pieces.

Colonial Prosperity.

Last month the Legislatures of New Zealand, South Australia, Queensland, and Newfoundland were opened. On the whole, the Governors had favourable reports to make. New Zealand is to be congratulated upon the general prosperity of the Colony, Queensland upon the improvement of the revenue and the revival of business, while Newfoundland has to rejoice that after its financial distress, the credit of the Colony has been restored and the revenue for the year will show a surplus of 200,000 dollars. In South Australia the Governor made special references to the successful working of the Act conferring the suffrage upon women, and announced measures embodying the popular referendum and elective Ministries. South Australia, it would seem, is about to vie with New Zealand as the Colony of experimental legislation. We all know about the referendum, but the demand for elective Ministries is a somewhat startling novelty. From the point of view of Australian development the news from Western Australia is probably more important than the opening of any legislature. At Coolgardie a spring of good fresh water has been struck in the centre of the town

ship at a depth of 170 feet, yielding 4,000 gallons daily. Now that they have struck water, the one great obstacle in the way of development of the Western Australian gold fields will disappear.

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THE SITUAT.ON IN SOUTH AFRICA: A MAP SHOWING THE DISPOSITION AND STRENGTH OF TROOPS.

While the reports from our self-governing Distressful Colonies are uniformly encouraging, we Continent. have less satisfactory news from the two extremities of Africa, where our countrymen are struggling with varying success against the aboriginal forces of barbarism. The news from Rhodesia last month has been almost uniformly bad. All the natives appear to be in insurrection, even the timid Mashonas, have risen, and the English appear to hold as much territory as they can cover with their guns. The ravages of the rinderpest, which is probably the chief cause of the rising, have fatally crippled our transport, and unless something can be done in the course of the next two months, our garrison, which includes many women and children, will be put to severe straits for lack of food. Bad as is the news of the native uprising, it is less painful than the intelligence which reaches

this country from time to time as to the savagery
with which beleaguered whites are avenging them-
selves on their foes. The English-speaking man, as
a rule, is not ruthless in dealing with the coloured
races, because he is always so confident he can hold
his own.
But when once he feels, as it were, the
ground moving under him, as in India during the
Mutiny, or in Jamaica under Governor Eyre, or as it
seems in Matabeleland to day, the aboriginal devil
asserts itself with a vengeance, and then there is
little to choose between him and any other Euro-
pean.
For a long time the settlers clung to the
belief that they would be able to deal with the
natives without appealing for Imperial aid, but
the rising which threatens Salisbury, and necessi-
tated the despatch of a contingent from Bulawayo
to relieve the beleaguered town, has convinced even
the optimists that the time has come for the

redcoats to put in an appearance, and they are accordingly being moved up. Mr. Rhodes's resignation has been accepted at last. The situation looks ugly, and it would seem extremely probable that Matabeleland will have to be reconquered from India.

India in

Nothing is more remarkable than the emergence of India as the dominating Africa military factor of the southern half of the Eastern hemisphere. For some time past Sir H. H. Johnstone has recruited his bodyguard in Nyassaland from the Sikhs of Northern India. The construction of the East African railway has been placed in the hands of Indian contractors, who will execute it by Indian labour, protected by Indian troops. Suakim is now garrisoned by 4,000 Sepoys, and nothing is more probable than that the relief of Bulawayo will ultimately be effected by an Indian army landed at Beira. Mr. Rhodes dreaded this in the days when he regarded the Cape as his natural base. It is possible that he may take a different view of matters now. The fact that the whole of East Africa will be more or less under the military and industrial dominion of India lends great importance to the discussion which is raging as to whether or not the Indian exchequer should be saddled with the cost of the Suakim garrison. paper has been published giving the opinions of the Anglo-Indian authorities on this subject, but there is very little doubt as to how the question ought to be decided. Africa ought to pay its own way. If it can call upon India for trained troops in case of need, it ought to pay for them. India is not a country that can afford to pay the cost of expeditions to other continents.

The Egyptian Victory at

A

While affairs have been going very badly in Matabeleland, we have to rejoice Ferket. over a brilliant victory gained by the British-led Egyptian army on the road to Dongola. It is a very hideous necessity to have to take the field against the Dervishes, just as it was a hideous necessity to hang the four murderers who went to the gallows last month at Newgate; but when such executioner's work has to be put through, it is well that it should be done smartly, and that there should be no such needless aggravation of its horrors as is said to have taken place at the execution of Milsom. From a military point of view, nothing could be better than the way that Sir Herbert Kitchener did his work at Ferket. The Khalifa had sent forward some 3,000 to 5,000 of his best fighting men to bar the advance of the Egyptian troops. It was this he

decided to attack. Three brigades of infantry marched at night down the river until they were within four miles of the enemy's position. Breaking camp at early dawn, they came up to the enemy at five o'clock. At the same time the force of cavalry and horse artillery fell upon their rear. After two and a half hours' fighting the Dervishes fled. As usual the chief loss of life took place in the pursuit. The Egyptians only lost twenty-one killed and eighty wounded, while nearly 900 of the Dervishes were killed and over 1,000 were taken prisoners. Most of the Emirs were killed, and nine boats were captured, and many camels. The railway has been pushed on and the road is now open to Dongola.

Wanted: Cash

To that point Sir Herbert Kitchener for a Sortie has an entirely free hand. Lord Salisto Khartoum. bury last month abandoned the reserve which has hitherto been maintained so strictly, and proclaimed his decision that Khartoum must be reconquered before Egypt could be evacuated, and that one of the chief advantages of going to Dongola is that it is on the road to Khartoum. At present, not having funds at their disposal, Ministers do not see their way to go beyond Dongola, but if they are established there they can constantly threaten Khartoum. Lord Salisbury's words are very precise." He repeated his conviction that "we shall not have restored Egypt to the position in which we received her, and we shall not have placed Egypt in that position of safety in which she deserves to stand, until the Egyptian flag floats over Khartoum." justice to humanity, it is sincerely to be hoped that some of the millionaires who, in Lord Salisbury's somewhat cynical phrase, "spent their money in supporting raids and invasions," will undertake to find the sum necessary to enable Sir Herbert Kitchener to give a coup de grâce to the tottering fabric of iniquity which the Khalifa has maintained in the Soudan. He is quite as bad as the Turk in Armenia, and it would be an enterprise worthy, let us say, of Mr. Astor's ambition, to finance a sortie across the desert to regain the capital of Soudan.

Friends and Allies,

otherwise.

In

Lord Salisbury would hardly have spoken as he did had he not felt that his rear Triple and was secure against any hostile action on the part of any of the other Powers. A story was put into circulation last month to the effect that France had secured the support of Russia for a demand that England should retire from Egypt, and that the Nile Valley should be neutralised under the general supervision of the Powers. No such demand can be made unless all the Powers agree, and there

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seems to be good reason for thinking that the Triple Alliance will have no part or lot in this scheme to eject us from Cairo. The German Emperor twice over last month sent telegrams in which he declared, in reference to England and Germany, that blood was thicker than water. He forgets, however, that there are very few Germans who, like himself, are of the same blood as the English. Still, this repeated declaration as to the identity of the German and the English races seems to indicate that the Kaiser wants to be on good terms with Great Britain. It is even stated that he will come to Cowes after all to witness what he expects will be the victory of his yacht Meteor over all her rivals.

Li

Beyond the fact that the Russian Hung Chang Emperor had an attack of the jaundice in Europe at the conclusion of his Coronation festivities, and that his wife is not in a condition to accompany him on his visit to Berlin, no definite news has reached us from Russia. It is stated that Marshal Yamagata has returned to Japan, convinced that from the Japanese point of view nothing can be got out of Russia. Li Hung Chang, on the other hand, is said to have fixed everything up with Prince Lobanoff. Russia is to have a free passage for her railways, with exclusive trade facilities in China, who in return will, it is understood, be able to count upon the assistance of her northern neighbour in case of any further trouble with Japan, or, possibly, with England; but that, of course, is not stated at present. Li Hung Chang, who has been made a great deal of in Russia, and has been much lionised by the astute Germans on the look-out for orders for German shipyards, is making the tour of Europe, taking Paris and London en route. What will happen after he returns, no one seems to know. Wild schemes are being discussed, but the probability is that the Chinese Empire will continue to creak along like an old wheelbarrow in the old ruts. Note, by the way, that Lord Salisbury publicly censured as pusillanimous those fears which are so constantly finding expression in the press as to the inability of Great Britain to continue to hold her position in the Eastern markets.

The Annexa- France, after having conquered Madation of gascar, in order to establish a proMadagascar. tectorate, has found herself obliged to annex the country outright. The Bill which constituted Madagascar a French colony was introduced and defended in the Chamber of Deputies by M. Hanotaux, who, only a few months since, set forth in one of the French reviews at great

length the imperious reasons which led him to deprecate such a step. Great Britain and the United States, however, had refused to recognise the anomalous position established by the French conquest. Until the annexation of the island had been declared, they maintained that their treaties still held good. To put an end to this ambiguous situation Madagascar is to be annexed to France. There is reason to believe that France has all her troubles still to come in Madagascar. It cost her a great deal of trouble to get to the capital, but the moment she was within striking distance all opposition collapsed. She will probably find, as we are finding in Matabeleland, that barbarous nations have a disagreeable habit of rallying after a time, if their conquest has been too easy.

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at Home.

M. MELINE.

The French Premier.

The internal condition of France, whether [ The French regarded from the view of population or of revenue or of trade, is hardly such as to justify launching out into fresh colonial adventures. The census returns, which have just been published, show that a limit has at last been reached in the growth of the great towns. Marseilles and Toulon are almost the only ports which show any considerable increase. The increase of the population of Paris is only 64,000. M. Cochery has produced a fiscal scheme by which he proposes to tax foreign stocks and Rentes. The attention of the country is more and more concentrated on the great Exhibition which

is to be held in 1900 at Paris. Meanwhile a passing interest has been occasioned by the efforts of the Empress Eugénie, Princess Clementine, and three other great ladies, who have been trying to effect a fusion between the Royalists and Bonapartists. Prince Victor, however, objects to be sacrificed to the cause of Conservative Reunion.

The Powers

and the
Sultan.

Count Goluchowski, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Austro-Hungary, made his annual statement at Budapest last month. So far as can be gathered from his very guarded remarks, it seems that Austria is in hearty accord with the British policy in Egypt. For Armenia nothing can be done, but the Turk must beware lest he go too far in Crete. The situation in that island seems to show no improvement. The Powers have agreed to press upon the Turk, by a joint Note, the appointment of a Christian governor, the declaration of an amnesty, the re-establishment of the Convention of Halepa, and the summoning of the Cretan Assembly with its old powers. The Sultan, finding the Powers in earnest, has promised to concede all their demands, as the fighting between Christians and Turks continues briskly up and down the island, with the usual resulting atrocities. The Sultan is playing with fire in Crete. One single picturesque massacre of Greek villagers, after the Bulgarian or Armenian fashion, would necessitate the immediate landing of European troops, and the final severance of Crete from the Ottoman Empire.

The

As was universally anticipated, the Selection of Republican Convention at St. Louis McKinley. selected Mr. McKinley as their per. sidential candidate. At the moment of writing no one knows who will be selected by the Democrats who are to meet at Chicago. One thing seems to be certain: they will not select President Cleveland; and the only other certainty is that the man who will receive the nomination will be a very dark horse indeed, for owing to the dearth of eminent men in the Democratic camp, there is no one in the running who has a record worth speaking of. The chief interest of both the Conventions has been, not personal, but financial, viz., what line would be taken by the great American parties on the subject of bimetallism? For some time Mr. McKinley, acting thereby in accordance with the prudent strategy of his wirepuller-in-chief, Mr. Hanna, sat on the fence until it was quite clear that the solid men of the Republican party would not tolerate any fooling on

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agreement on the subject of silver, the Republican platform does not carry the party very far in the direction of the silver men. All the hopes of the latter are concentrated on the carrying of the Democratic Convention at Chicago. Some of the party Conventions in the saner States have condemned free silver, but at the moment of writing it seems probable that the Chicago Convention will be carried for silver with a rush, although whether the silver men will have a two-thirds majority, without which, according to the tradition of the Democrats, it is impossible to act, is said to be still doubtful.

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