a grand palaver to be held on the 20th. At the appointed time General Scott and his staff were seated in a semicircle in the square, and an officer was sent to the king to notify him that the British general awaited his coming. Unwillingly Prempeh accompanied the officer to the square. Taking his seat on the stool of state, he exchanged a few formal salutations with Sir Francis Scott; and then, descending from the stool, shook hands with the general. He was then introduced to Mr. Maxwell, governor of the Gold Coast, who informed him that he must formally submit to Great Britain, and pay immediately 50,000 ounces of gold as war indemnity. He was also informed that he must clear the streets and keep the people quiet. The king replied that he was ready to make his submission. Taking off his crown and his sandals, the luckless barbarian advanced to the governor. He placed his head between Mr. Maxwell's feet, holding it meantime between his hands. For the first time his subjects saw the haughty king of Ashanti submitting himself to the commands of a superior. When the payment of the indemnity was demanded, Prempeh protested that he possessed no more than 680 ounces of gold, and pleaded for delay. After reminding the king that a promise made twenty years previously to pay an indemnity had never been fulfilled, the governor announced that Prempeh, the queen mother, the king's father, his two uncles, his brother, two war chiefs, and the under-kings Mamron, Ejesu, and Ofesu, would be conducted by troops to the coast. The announcement produced general consternation. The fallen monarch and his companions in misfortune were on February 4 put on board the British warship Raccoon for conveyance to Elmina, a fortified town on the Gold Coast.

Major Pigott, acting British resident at Kumassi, was instructed to establish a station at Kontampo. The Basel Mission Society was already at work in Kumassi early in March; and the Wesleyans were preparing to make a settlement there. A battalion of Houssas, including cavalry for operations in the open country, should occasion require, was to be raised forthwith. A British protectorate over Ashanti was proclaimed. A new paramount “king” over the Ashanti confederation is to be elected as Prempeh's successor.

The country is believed to be very rich in deposits of gold; it is even thought that the opening of Ashanti to European enterprise may have for result a decline in the price of the metal in the world's markets.

A recent British blue book contains interesting correspondence relating to Ashanti. On the subject of human sacrifices, Sir W. B. Griffith writes:

"With regard to the assertion that Kwaku Dua abhors human sacrifices, that he neither allows nor countenances them, and that there is no truth in the alleged slaughter of human beings, as stated in the Gold Coast papers, I desire to point attention to the barefaced falsehood of the Ashantis in their statement on this point, as it affords

another instance of what they will do in order to mislead and deceive."

He proceeds to give dates on which human sacrifices have taken place in recent years. In 1894, on the occasion of the king's accession, 400 human beings were slaughtered. Near Kumassi the British discovered and burned the sacrifice grove, full of skulls and bones of human victims.

The expedition was most carefully planned, no precaution having been overlooked. From its first organization till it reached Kumassi there was not a single hitch, a single surprise-except perhaps that the absence of active hostility on the part of the natives. was a surprise. But it looks as though even that was foreseen; but if resistance had been made, that too would doubtless have been adequately met. Every provision that it was possible to make for the health, rationing, and accommodation of the troops was made with perfect system. Every kind of supplies was to be found in abundance at every stage of the expedition's progress. This is modern soldiering. At each halting place huts were erected for the reception of the troops, and parties were sent in advance of the column to prepare the necessary refreshments. As the men reached each point of their journey, they found shade and comfort, food-nay, even brandy and soda when needful. troops suffered very little from sickness, considering how

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unwholesome the climate of that country is. It was remarked that the well-seasoned East India regiments and those of the British regiment which had been ordered to Cape Coast Castle after years of service in India, suffered most from sickness, and proved least able to sustain fatigue on the march in the hot weather. A sad incident, the only striking casualty of the campaign, was the death, from fever, of Prince Henry of Battenberg, husband of the Princess Beatrice of England. At his own urgent request he had been allowed to accompany the expedition as military secretary to Sir Francis Scott; but he was stricken with malarial fever on the march to Kumassi, and was obliged to return to the coast. He died on board the cruiser Blonde, on the night of January 20, while on the way to Madeira in search of better health (see Necrology).

Madagascar Annexed by France. The treaty between the queen of Madagascar and the government of France, which was concluded and signed October 1, 1895, at Antananarivo (Vol. 5, p. 858), was viewed with little favor in France; and politicians and the press demanded its annulment and the substitution of another treaty in which the status of the island should be recognized as that of a province subject to France, and not an autonomous state under French protection. M. Hanotaux, ex-minister of foreign affairs, under whose administration the expedition was sent out, and who dictated the treaty of October 1, protested against any revision of that instrument. The express aim of the expedition having been to enforce the protectorate over Madagascar conceded by the Malagasy government in the treaty of 1885, the treaty of October 1, 1895, procured for France all that she had contended for, and, he said, should be approved by the French home government.

A protectorate, M. Hanotaux declared, is "the only form of government for Madagascar It would be far wiser to let the Malagasy work out their own problems and conduct their own affairs, than to assume responsibility for France. France's experiment in Algiers and Tunis is far from satisfactory: the colonies are a burden to the taxpayers. The French people have neither the character nor the genius to become successful colonizers."

These views were strenuously opposed by the radicals in the chamber, and the policy of annexation prevailed. The treaty of October 1 was annulled, and a new treaty signed by the queen of Madagascar on January 18, giving to the French government, through its resident-general, complete control over the affairs of the island both domestic and foreign.

On the occasion of the signing of this instrument the resident-general, M. Laroche, presented to the queen a parure of diamonds worth 10,000 francs. He predicted, as the result of the relation now established between Madagascar and France, an era of prosperity which would make the queen's reign forever memorable. interested in their relations assuming the definite and Both countries were friendly character of a close and fraternal union. The queen made a grateful reply, speaking of her confidence in the future of progress, wisdom, and enlightenment opened up by the arrival of M. Laroche. In the beginning of February the powers were formally notified by the French government that France had taken possession of Madagascar.

Anglo-French Boundaries.-The Anglo-French Delimitation Commission (Vol. 5, p. 859) for determining the boundary of the back country of Sierra Leone, entered on the active discharge of its duties in the middle of December last. It consists of Colonel Trotter and Captain Tyler on behalf of England, and Captain Passaga and Lieutenant Carrade on behalf of France. Leaving Freetown December 18, they marched straight across the colony of Sierra Leone, reaching Tembi-Kunda January 13. That place was found to be in latitude 9° 5' 20", or farther south than the position usually assigned to it. The longitude remained to be determined.

Tembi-Kunda is at the head of the principal source of the Niger, and it is now decided to be within French territory. The spring from which originates the Niger is held by the natives to be most strictly tabu: it is death for mortal man to gaze on it. The friendly natives, unable to impress on the white men the peril of invading the dread holiness of the spot, sacrificed to the Devil a white cock in propitiation for the offense.

The route of the commission to the northwest from this place lay through a difficult mountainous country. Towns formerly supposed to lie in French territory were found to be comprised indisputably within the English sphere, and vice versa. Between the two Gallic towns of Tembi-Kunda and Boria, or Bogoria, are no less than eight others, whose inhabitants now find that their natural allegiance is due to the queen of England, though hitherto they had been under the French tricolor. The report of the British commissioners tells of the "pride and delight" with which the townsmen accepted the protection of the Union Jack. But this was balanced by similar demonstrations on the part of inhabitants of towns whose allegiance was transferred from England to France.

The climate of the region traversed by the commission was found to be quite endurable. The nights were cool. The thermometer on several occasions registered 58° F. in the early morning, and the heat during the day was not great. The rainfall is much less than in the lower levels of Sierra Leone; but the soil is very fertile, and the country seems full of promise if the difficulty of communication and transport between the interior and the coast can be overcome.

A convention was signed January 15 by Lord Salisbury and the French ambassador to England, providing for delimitation of the British and French spheres west of the lower Niger, and dealing also with English relations to Tunis. The treaty, besides, settled the long-standing. Anglo-French dispute in Indo-China. (See The FarEastern Situation," p. 103.)

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As regards the region to the west of the lower Niger, the two governments agree to name commissioners, who shall examine the titles produced on either side, and fix by mutual agreement the most equitable delimitation between the territories of their respective countries.

The general convention of 1875, which at present regulates British relations with Tunis, contains a clause providing for a revision of that treaty, inserted to enable the contracting parties to agree in the future upon such other arrangements as might tend still further to the improvement of their mutual intercourse and to the advancement of the interests of their respective peoples.' Negotiations are to be at once commenced between Great Britain and France, through whom the foreign affairs of Tunis are now conducted, for replacing this general convention by a new one, which is to correspond with the intentions of the clause cited above, and doubtless also more or less with the views of the protecting power. These articles may prepare the way for an amicable solution of troublesome questions which have long been pending between the two governments, but they do not pledge either side to anything except to negotiate.

OTHER INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.

The Trinidad Dispute.-Toward the end of January the dispute between Great Britain and Brazil over the island of Trinidad (Vol. 5, p. 864) seemed to be reaching a critical stage. The Brazilian cabinet had declined to refer the matter to arbitration; and it was announced that the Argentine Republic had accorded to Brazil its moral support by cancelling the concession granted to an English company to land a cable at La Plata. The reason alleged for this action of Argentina was that the company had failed to secure rightfully the other landing points necessary for the successful operation of the cable; but it

Vol. 6.-8.