daughter of Nicholas, the reigning prince of Montenegro. The announcement has produced a general feeling of satisfaction in Italy and has been received with unbounded rejoicings in the Black Mountain principality. It is easy to exaggerate the political importance of the match; but it is interesting to note that the country which under its present ruler has courted Russian favor is now giving one of its princesses to be the queen of a member of the Triple Alliance.

VICTOR EMMANUEL FERDINAND MARIA GENNERO, Prince of Naples, was born at Naples on November 11, 1869, and entered the army at an early age. He is now a lieutenant-general, is a Chevalier of the Order of the Golden Fleece and a Knight of the Garter. He is the only son of King Humbert. His mother, the queen of Italy, was Princess Margherita of Saxony, the daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa, and first cousin of her husband.

PRINCESS HÉLÈNE OF MONTENEGRO is the third daughter of Prince Nicholas and Princess Milena of Montenegro. She was born at Cettinje, January 8, 1873, and was educated principally in Russia. She is accomplished, and draws and paints well, having won high praise from the artists in Dresden under whom she studied. Her eldest sister, Princess Militza, is married to the Grand Duke Peter Nicolaivitch of Russia; while her second sister, Princess Stana, is married to Prince George of Leuchtenberg. Princess Hélène's

brother, Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, is about eighteen months older than she is. After her there come three daughters and two sons, thus making the number of the prince of Montenegro's children nine.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

The Iron Gates Opened.-One of the great engineering works of the century, a work first attempted by the Roman emperor, Trajan, nearly 2,000 years ago, has been carried to a successful issue by the final removal of the socalled Iron Gates, which formerly barred the Transylvanian egress of the Danube. Henceforth the stream flows without impediment from its source in the castle garden of Donauschingen to the Black sea. The credit of the great work belongs exclusively to Hungary; and the formal ceremony of opening the new channel, on September 27, formed a fitting climax to the great Hungarian millennial celebration (p. 436).

Since 1829, when Count Stefan Szechenyi vainly tried to persuade Metternich to undertake the enterprise, Hungary has kept a watchful eye upon it. The Congress of Paris damped the ardor of the Magyars by declaring the navigation of the Danube to be an international concern; but this decision was virtually revoked in 1878, when Count Andrassy prevailed on the Berlin Congress to give AustriaHungary a mandate for the regularization of the river. This was merely a precursor to negotiations which disinterested" Turkey

66

and Servia, and finally confined to the statesmen of Budah-Pesth the task of opening the river. After nearly twenty years of study, negotiation, and untiring industry, the work has now been accomplished, and Hungary possesses her long-dreamed-of highway to the East. There can be no doubt that she will profit enormously by it, for, placing, as it does, Austria-Hungary in direct water communication with the outer world, it will do more than anything else to attract attention to the enterprise of the Hungarian people and the vast resources of their country. Hungary is now one of the busiest industrial and mining countries in the world. The legitimate orientation of her trade is Eastward, and hence the navigable Danube means for her an incomparable outlet for her manufactures not only in the Balkans and in Roumania, but also in the Black sea, and perhaps even beyond-into Anatolia and Persia. For other countries the Danube has less importance as the transport by sea is less expensive.

Within the last twenty-five years. important works of improvement have been executed by the Austrian and Hungarian governments on the upper Danube, and by an international commission at its mouth. These works, however, still left untouched the chief impediment to navigation, namely, a series of reefs and rapids occurring at intervals along a distance of over sixty-five miles between O-Moldava and Sibb. The last and most serious obstruction was that known as the Iron Gates. When the river is high, the other rapids can easily be passed, but here navigation is always beset with difficulties. To overcome this barrier a canal had to be made on the right or Servian bank of the river. When the embankments were laid, a cross dam was built at the upper end of the canal; and, the river being thus diverted, work was carried on "in the dry." On the completion of the canal, another dam was constructed above the cross dam, which was then removed, and the rocks beneath it levelled, after which the second dam was blown up and the waters of the Danube turned into the canal.

Navigation has hitherto been carried on by boats drawing at most six feet, but these could only pass the rapids for part of the year; and, for a period of four to eight months transshipment was necessary. The regulation of the Danube commenced in 1891, and was to have been completed by the end of 1895, as arranged with the contracting syndicate; but work involving a term of two or three years still remains to be done before the whole scheme can be considered finished. The original estimate of 9,000,000 florins (about $3,618,000) has already been largely exceeded, and it seems probable that the eventual cost will ap proach 20,000,000 (about $8,040,000). The Hungarian engineers have exhibited great courage and ingenuity in the conduct of this work, especially as regards the boring and dredging plant, in which many original features have been developed, machines of the kind used at Suez and Panama being found unsuited to the particular class of work required. The engineer-in-chief of the work was M. de Gonda.

The opening ceremonies on September 27 were marked with great festivities, Emperor Francis Joseph opening the canal in state with the kings of Roumania and Servia, through whose territories the river also runs. The sovereigns went through the canal by steamer, drinking to its success in golden goblets of champagne.

The opportunity was seized for a friendly demonstration from Roumania, a whole corps being brought out to line the shores as the imperial vessel passed into Roumanian waters. The Austrian emperor subsequently visited Bucharest amid great enthusiasm. The entente between Roumania and the Triple Alliance has long been plainly visible; but this demonstration strengthens the bonds, more especially

those binding Austria to her Danubian neighbors. It is very noticeable, however, that Bulgaria is left out of the question, Prince Ferdinand not having been invited to the ceremony, while the king of Servia, on the other hand, has quite put himself under the Austrian wing.

RUSSIA.

A judicial inquiry into the Khodynski plain disaster during the coronation fêtes in Moscow (p. 443), resulted in July in the following persons, with some others, being held responsible: General Vlassovsky, prefect of police at Moscow; General Behr, president of the organization committee of the fêtes; M. de Budberg, also one of the organizers; and the architect who constructed the booths. from which the czar's presents were to be distributed to the people. An imperial ukase was issued,stopping further inquiry, declaring the Moscow authorities responsible, ordering that General Vlassovsky be cash

M. DE WITTE,

iered, and imposing minor penalties on all other officials found to be in any way responsible for the calamity.

Nicholas II. has restored to the grand duchy of Finland some of the liberties of which it was deprived by the late czar. The Finnish senate recovers the power of арpointing and dismissing officials and of dealing with the budget of the grand duchy, the control of education, and Certain other powers relating to the judicial system and to finance.

The following statistics of Russian foreign commerce are based on a recent report of the British consul-general in St. Petersburg.

The foreign trade of European Russia, Finland, and at the Cau

casian ports and customs houses (but excluding all the rest of the Asiatic frontiers), was valued last year at £126,721,924, as against £144,951,352 in 1894. This large decrease is due to the heavy importation by the Russian government in 1894 of gold and silver bullion; but if bullion is left out of the statistics for both years, the volume of the trade for 1895 exceeds that for the previous year by nearly nine millions sterling. The exports last year amounted to £74,861,583, against £62,872,026 the previous year, while the imports declined from, roughly, 55 to 52 millions; so that the exports exceed the imports by over 23 millions, the satisfactory results to Russian trade of the year being attributed in great measure to the fixity of the value of the rouble, which the finance minister, M. de Witte, maintains, though at considerable cost to the country at large. The exports of breadstuffs from European Russia last year were less than the previous year in quantity (184 against 205 million hundred weight), due mainly to a decline in the exports of barley, oats, and maize; both wheat and rye showed an increase, that in wheat being over 10 million hundredweight. The values are not given in the case of breadstuffs. As to other exports, flax comes first with a value of nearly eight millions sterling, then timber, four and a-quarter millions; linseed, three and a-quarter; mineral oils, two and a-quarter; eggs, two and a-quarter (the number of eggs is given at 1,411 millions); hemp, over two millions; sugar, one and a-quarter; oil-cake, a little more than a million; while rapeseed, bristles, and wool were about three quar ters of a million each. As to imports, the values are not given, and it is therefore impossible to show their relative importance.

Great Britain has a quarter of the total import and export trade of Russia. In 1894, the last year for which the figures are complete, the United Kingdom had 26.8 per cent of the exports, and sent 23.7 per cent of the imports. This latter proportion has remained very steady since 1888. In spite of fluctuations in amounts, German competition, and Russian protective legislation, British imports maintain their position, and in 1894 were higher in absolute values than for many years previously.

The remarkable strike of textile workers which began in St. Petersburg in June (p. 430)-the first strike in Russia-collapsed after a little more than two weeks' duration, the workmen getting merely some small concessions of doubtful value. It was caused by the attempt of the manufacturers to lower wages and also increase hours of work, competition in the textile trade having been slightly increased as a result of the commercial treaty signed with Germany in 1894 (Vol. 4, p. 90). A secret league of socialists took hold and directed the strike, which quickly spread to include 30,000 operatives. Being combinations to affect prices, all strikes in Russia are illegal so that the government authorities were at once enlisted for suppression of the movement. Public meetings were forbidden, and many leaders of the workmen were banished. There was no rioting. It is generally conceded that the strike marks a stage in the economic, if not also

the political, development of Russia. The imperial council of ministers has been led to discuss the labor question and the growth of socialism.

SPAIN.

Besides the unruly conduct of her dependents in Cuba and the Philippine islands, serious internal troubles are looming up to increase the anxiety of the Spanish government. Rumors are widely current that another Carlist attempt to overthrow the present dynasty is a possibility merely awaiting an opportune moment for realization. The financial difficulties of the government are increasing; and there is widespread discontent of the masses, caused by the enormous expenditure of blood and treasure spent in the endeavor to retain Cuba.

Undoubtedly connected with the last-mentioned source of unrest, was the somewhat mysterious attempt made by a small armed band on the night of August 4 to possess themselves of the city hall and the custom-house of Valencia. The leader of the insurrectionists is said to have been Bernardo Alvarez, at one time a student of medicine in New York city. The police dispersed the rioters, but were unable to trace the agitation to its originators. The republicans were strongly suspected of fomenting it; but their leaders indignantly denied that it was the intention of their party to add to the difficulties of the government at the present critical time. The conservatives looked with suspicion upon the Freemasons, the free-thinkers, and liberalminded people generally. The anti-Protestant feeling among the people increased, and was especially strong against the missionaries, chiefly Americans, who were suspected of promoting the disturbance. The whole affair is involved in considerable obscurity.

HOLLAND.

The first chamber of the states-general has ratified by thirty-four votes to twelve the bill for the extension of the suffrage in Holland. The anti-revolutionary party (Protestant) and the Roman Catholics represented the opposition. The bill was carried by the vote of thirty liberals and four Catholics, and became law by royal assent early in September.