andrian patriarch. The echegheh, who presides over the monastic establishments, which contain about 12,000 monks, possesses more real authority. Jewish ceremonies, survivals of an early conversion to Judaism, are mingled with the Christian rites. The ruling caste shows an admixture of Hebrew and Arab blood.

The natives raise cattle, goats, and sheep in great numbers. Tillage is not much practiced, although the soil is fertile. Sugar and cotton are easily grown, and the vine and the date palm thrive, while the coffee plant is a native of the country. The chief products for export are hides and skins, civet, coffee, and wax. Gold and ivory are royal monopolies. Barley, millet, and wheat are raised for domestic consumption. The chief imports are cotton goods of English, American, and Indian manufacture, wool and woolen goods, cutlery, and matches. The Maria Theresa dollar has been the current coin for more than a century, and Menelek has had pieces of the same weight coined with his own effigies. The most populous town is Ankober, in Shoa, with 7,000 inhabitants. The French are building a railroad from Jibouti to Harrar, to which place a telegraph has been erected from Adis Abeba, the present residence of the Negus. As the result of negotiations that have been in progress since 1891 the French minister to Rome, M. Barrère, and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Marquis Visconti Venosta, signed on Jan. 24 a protocol delimiting the French and Italian possessions on the Red Sea littoral. The frontier line, starting from the extremity of Ras Dumeira, follows the water parting for some distance inland, and then turns in a southwesterly direction so as to leave within Italian territory the caravan routes leading to Assab, in Aussa. The contracting parties leave for future settlement the question of the small islands opposite Ras Dumeira, both undertaking to oppose any attempt of other powers to occupy the islands. Capt. Ciccodicola, the Italian resident at Adis Abeba, came to a settlement of the ItaloAbyssinian boundary question with the Emperor Menelek, who agreed to the retention of the Mareb, Belesa, and Muna line, thus sanctioning the Italian possession of a considerable portion of the Abyssinian plateau. The Abyssinian frontier along the British possessions in East Africa has been strengthened by the occupation and administration of the country bordering on the equatorial provinces and on Lake Rudolph by Europeans in the employ of Menelek, led by Capt. Leontieff, a Russian, who with a force of Senegalese soldiers erected forts at the principal strategic points. The Mohammedan tribes in Ogadayn, roused by a so-called Mahdi, rebelled, but were routed, on March 19, at Digdiga, with a loss of nearly 3,000 men, by Benti, the Governor of Harrar, who lost only 21 killed and wounded. The prompt arrival of re-enforcements from the Negus further checked the rising and prevented it from extending into Somaliland.

AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central Asia, lying between Russian Turkestan and British India. The ruler, or Ameer, is Abdurrahman Khan, who was placed on the throne in 1880 by the British after they had occupied Cabul, the capital, and driven out Yakub Khan, the son of Shere Ali, the preceding Ameer. The Indian Government has since paid an annual subsidy, first 1,200,000 rupees, and in 1893 increased to 1,800,000 rupees, to enable Abdurrahman to consolidate his power and preserve a strong, united, and independent Afghanistan as a buffer state between the Russian dominions and India. The military forces of the Ameer consist of the feudal militia and his

regular army of about 20,000 men. The artillery has 76 modern guns, and in the arsenal at Cabul are manufactured gunpowder, cartridges, rifles, and cannon with modern machinery. The boundary between Russian and Afghan territory starts at a point in the Kwaja Amran range, runs first westward to the peak of Kohimalik Siuh, southwest of the Helmund, thence northward to Zulfikar, on the Heri Rud, thence northeastward to Khamiab, on the Oxus; this river it follows up, and the Panjah, its longer, southern branch, to Lake Victoria, from which it runs eastward to a point in the Sarikol mountains, which form the boundary of Chinese Turkestan. The boundary between Afghanistan and India as finally demarcated leaves Chitral, Bajaur, and Swat within the British sphere and Waziristan in the east, while Afghanistan retains Kafiristan and Asmar, with the Kunar valley. The area of the Ameer's dominions is estimated at 215,400 square miles. The population is about 4,000,000. The taxes, levied in kind, are from a tenth to a third of the produce, according to the benefit derived from irrigation. The revenue, estimated under a former Ameer at $3,600,000, is subject to fluctuations. The cultivators raise wheat, barley, beans, peas, etc., as a winter crop and plant rice, millet, or maize in the summer. Fruits are abundant and fine, and are the principal food of the people. Preserved fruits are exported to India. Other exports are nuts, asafoetida, madder, castor oil, carpets, and other manufactures of wool and camels' hair, felt, silk, postins, or sheepskin coats, tobacco, cattle, hides, and rosaries. The chief imports are cotton goods, indigo and other dyes, sugar, and Chinese tea. The trade is with British India and with Bokhara and Russian Turkestan, but there are no statistics of the amount.

At the beginning of the year a detachment of Russian troops arrived at Kushk, the terminus of the Russian railroad to the Afghan frontier, having been only a week on the journey from Tiflis. The sending of re-enforcements to the new fortress at Kushk was regarded as a menace to Herat. All the materials for a siege train to be held in readiness for a rapid advance to Herat were accumulated at Kushk. The demonstration was intended, perhaps, as a warning to England not to extend the Indian frontier, an advance beyond the Raskem mountains north of Kashmir having been contemplated.

The attitude of the Ameer toward Great Britain since the conquest of the Afghan tribes on the northwest frontier of India, while outwardly friendly, has been far from cordial, and by commercial regulations he has endeavored to isolate Afghanistan from India as far as possible. By the imposition of heavy duties and prohibitory regulations he almost extinguished the trade with India by Dakka and the Khaiber pass. In 1900 he created a monopoly in postins, asafoetida, almonds, and pomegranates, having already prohibited the export of horses and mules and the import of Indian salt. The tax on the exportation of sheep was placed so high that the number sent to India fell from 16,000 to 6,000 in the first year. To the representations addressed to him by the Indian Government Abdurrahman paid no attention. The Englishmen who were formerly in his service he has dismissed one after another, and the factories and arsenals go on without them. His political relations with Russia were not more intimate than before, though trade with Asiatic Russia was not checked by artificial barriers as was the Indian trade. Since the Afridi campaign the Ameer has devoted himself to increasing the efficiency of his regular army. More regiments

have been raised and a reserve has been started. The export of grain has been rigorously prohibited, and large military granaries have been built and filled at Cabul, Candahar, and Herat. The transport arrangements have been completed by the purchase of many thousand horses so as to place the army on a war footing. The troops are well armed with breechloaders, several thousands with magazine rifles.

AFRICA, SOUTHERN, COLONIES IN. The Cape of Good Hope, which was first settled by the Dutch and the Huguenots in the seventeenth century, was taken from the Netherlands by the British in 1806 and was formally ceded to Great Britain in 1815. Many descendants of the original settlers who were unwilling to accept British rule migrated in 1834 and 1835, and beyond the Great Fish river, which was then the eastern boundary, founded an independent commonwealth in Natal; others crossed the Orange river, which had been declared the extreme northern boundary of the British possessions, and in 1837 established the settlements that were declared independent and organized into the Orange Free State, which was recognized by Great Britain in 1854. In the meantime Great Britain annexed the Natal settlements, whereupon a majority of the Boer colonists abandoned their farms and, joining others who had settled on the farther side of the Vaal river, established in 1849 the new commonwealth called the Transvaal Republic, whose independence was acknowledged by the British Government in 1852. Natal was separated from Cape Colony and erected into a colony in 1856. British Kaffraria was incorporated in Cape Colony in 1865, and Tembuland, East Griqualand, and the Transkei territories were annexed in later years; also the harbor of Walfisch Bay, on the southwest coast. Gríqualand West, originally a part of the Orange Free State, was annexed by Great Britain as a result of the discovery of diamond mines in the vicinity of Kimberley, and it also now forms an integral part of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Basutoland was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, but after the Basuto war it was detached and made a direct dependency of the Crown in 1884. In that year Germany declared a protectorate on the southwest coast of Africa over Damaraland, extending from Cape Frio, the southernmost point of Portuguese West Africa, to Walfisch Bay, and over Namaqualand, extending from Walfisch Bay southward to the Orange river, which forms the northern boundary of Cape Colony. Great Britain occupied the South African or Transvaal Republic in 1877 in consequence of internal dissensions among the burghers. They rebelled in 1880, expelled the British officials and drove out the garrison, defeated the first detachment of troops that were sent against them, and a new Government in England, presided over by Mr. Gladstone, made peace in 1881 on the basis of the restoration of their independence in internal affairs, reserving the suzerainty of the Queen, including the right to maintain a British resident, the representation of the Transvaal Republic in its foreign relations, the right to move troops through the country, etc. In 1884 a new convention was signed in London, from which the word suzerainty was omitted, the old name of South African Republic was recognized once more, the British resident gave place to a diplomatic agent, and the only right reserved by Great Britain was that of vetoing any treaty made by the South African Republic with foreign powers or with native tribes, six months being allowed for the British Government to approve or disapprove. Zululand was made a protectorate of Great Britain and a part

incorporated in the colony of Natal in 1880, and in 1897 the rest of Zululand was annexed to Natal. A part of Bechuanaland was occupied by British troops in 1884 and after the forcible expulsion of Boers from the Transvaal, who had proclaimed the independent republic of Stellaland, with its capital at Vryburg. In 1885 a British protectorate was declared over independent Bechuanaland, the country still ruled by Chief Khama. In the east British control was established over Zululand after the Zulu war of 1879. A portion next to the Natal border was set apart as a reserve for loyal Zulus who had aided the British in the war; the rest was restored to Cetewayo in 1883, but in 1887 about two thirds of this territory, together with the Zulu reserve, was formally declared British territory and placed under the administration of the Governor of Natal, and in 1897 the whole of Zululand and British Amatongaland were incorporated in Natal. A new republic founded by Boer trekkers in Zululand was subsequently incorporated as the district of Vryheid in the South African Republic with the assent of Great Britain. By the convention of 1890 a part of Swaziland also was added to the South African Republic. All the territories north of the Transvaal, including Matabeleland, ruled by King Lobengula, with the neighboring country of Mashonaland and the territory inhabited by the Makalakas and other vassals of Lobengula, comprising all the region north of 22° of south latitude, east of 20° of east longitude, and west of the Portuguese district of Sofala, were declared to be within the British sphere of influence. In 1889 a royal charter was granted to the British South Africa Company, which was authorized to organize an administration for these territories, known collectively as British South Africa or, subsequently, Rhodesia, from the name of Cecil Rhodes, founder of the company. company was empowered to take also under its administration, subject to the approval of the Imperial Government, the regions north of the Bechuanaland protectorate and the Kalihari region west of it, as far as the German boundary. Portugal originally claimed, by virtue of early conquests and continuous occupation more or less effective, both banks of the Zambesi river, from its mouth up to its source, and the country still farther west, reaching to the Portuguese possessions on the west coast-a continuous zone extending across the whole of Africa from Mozambique to Angola. Yielding, under threat of war, to superior force, the Portuguese Government in 1891 agreed to recognize as a British protectorate these regions known later as British South Africa and British Central Africa, or Zambesi, including Matabeleland, Mashonaland, and the Manica plateau south of the Zambesi, and north of that river the Barotse kingdom, and all other regions as far north as the The Shire boundary of the Congo Free State. highlands and the Nyassa region, where British missionaries already were active, were included, and this district, which had been declared to lie within the British sphere in 1889, were now proclaimed a British protectorate separate from British Central Africa, or Northern Zambesia, over which the British Government extended the administrative authority and commercial_privileges of the British South Africa Company. Pondoland was annexed to Cape Colony in 1894, and in 1895 the Crown colony of British Bechuanaland was also handed over to the colonial administration.

The

Cape Colony.-The colony of the Cape of Good Hope has possessed responsible government since 1872. The legislative power is vested in a Legislative Council of 23 members elected for seven years and a Legislative Assembly of 79 members

elected for five years. The franchise is possessed by all adult males able to register their names, addresses, and occupations, and further qualified by the occupation of house property of the value of £75 or the receipt of a salary of £50 or more

per annum.

The Governor is Sir Alfred Milner, appointed in 1898. The Cabinet at the beginning of 1900 was composed of the following members: Prime Minister and Colonial Secretary, W. P. Schreiner; Treasurer, J. X. Merriam; Attorney-General, R. Solomon; Commissioner of Public Works, J. W. Sauer; Secretary for Agriculture, A. J. Herholdt; without portfolio, Dr. Te Water.

Area and Population. The area of the colony, including Griqualand West, East Griqualand, Tembuland, Transkei, and Walfisch Bay, is 221,311 square miles, with a population at the census of 1891 of 1,527,224. The white population was 376,987; colored, 1,150,237. Pondoland, with an area of 4,040 square miles, had in 1894 a population of 188,000; British Bechuanaland, with an area of 51,424 square miles, had in 1891 a population of 72,736, of whom 5,211 were whites. Cape Town had 51,251 inhabitants; including suburbs, 83,718. The number of marriages in Cape Colony in 1898 was 8,709; of births, 15,340 Europeans and 37,864 colored; of deaths, 6,936 Europeans and 34,031 others; excess of births, 8,404 Europeans and 3,833 others. The number of arrivals from over sea in 1898 was 28,513; departures, 20,638. Finances. The revenue of the colony for the year ending June 30, 1898, was £7,212,225 from all sources. Of the total £2,318,190 came from taxation, £3,695,199 from services, £336,953 from the colonial estate, £186,133 from fines, stores issued, etc., and £675,750 from loans. The total expenditure was £8,431,398, of which £1,248,700 went for interest and sinking fund of the public debt, £2,058,587 for railroads, £435,338 for defense, £534,896 for police and jails, £176,210 for the civil establishment, and £1,349,143 under loan acts. The expenditure for the year ending June 30, 1900, was estimated at £6,664,044.

The budget statement of Sir Gordon Sprigg showed a deficit of only £69,000 in the accounts for the year ending June 30, 1900, the late Government having reduced expenditure on having its proposed income tax rejected. For the next year the revenue was estimated at £7,252,000, and expenditure at £7,225,000, not including £2,582,000 of permanent expenditure on harbor works, rolling stock, irrigation, and local loans to be raised by borrowing.

The public debt on Jan. 1, 1899, amounted to £28,383,922, including £3,106,477 of guaranteed loans for harbor boards and other corporate bodies. Commerce and Production. The crop of wheat in 1898 was 1,950,831 bushels; of oats, 1,447,353 bushels; of tobacco, 3,934,277 pounds; of mealies, 2.060,742 bushels; the production of wine, 4,861,056 gallons; of brandy, 1,387,392 gallons; of raisins, 2,577,909 pounds. The number of fruit trees in the colony, including peach, apricot, apple, pear, plum, fig, lemon, orange, and naartje, was 4,195,624. The number of cattle was 1,201,522; of horses, 382,610; of mules and donkeys, 85,060; of sheep, 12,616,883; of goats, 5,316, 767; of hogs, 239,451; of ostriches, 267,693. The wool product was 8,115,370 pounds; the product of mohair, 8,115,370 pounds; of ostrich feathers, 294,733 pounds; of butter, 2,623,329 pounds; of cheese, 36,729 pounds. The total value of imports in 1898 was £16,682,438, of which £15,261,949 represent merchandise and £1,420,489 specie. The exports of colonial produce were £24,112,483; the total exports £25,318,701 in value. The chief

exports of colonial produce were gold of the value of £15,394,442; diamonds, £4,566,897; wool, £1,766,740; ostrich feathers, £748,565; mohair, £647,548; hides and skins, £548,478; copper ore, £262,830; cereals, £18,602; wine, £15,043. The largest classes of imports were textiles and apparel for £4,367,027 and food and drinks for £3,791,849. Of the total imports £11,443,178 came from Great Britain, £1,048,126 from British possessions, and £4,130,050 from foreign countries. Of the total exports £23,969,425 went to Great Britain, £113,080 to British possessions, and £340,908 to foreign countries.

The beginning of the war in South Africa was followed by a serious interruption to the normal movement of commerce in the British colonies as well as in the Boer republics, of which Cape Colony is the principal outlet. The Boers and their sons had to go on commando, leaving a great part of the abundant crops to perish in the ground. In Cape Colony the call for volunteers and the disorganization caused by invasion or by the fear of invasion led to the same results, although in a less degree. By the end of 1899 there was a heavy fall in the principal exports and general depression was felt in trade. Later the war began to create an immense trade of its own, and exports of most products were stimulated, including mohair, ostrich feathers, copper ore, and sheepskins, the amount of increase over 1898 being £834,000. The export of diamonds, however, was much diminished, showing a loss of £1,579,000, and there was a reduction in the wool export, so that the total value of exports for the year showed a decrease of £1,176,000. The provisioning of the British troops more than supplied the loss on the side of imports caused by the stoppage of the trade in timber and mining machinery from the United States and the other requirements of ordinary times, which is destined to grow in a rapid ratio after the return of normal conditions. Australia and New Zealand furnished a large proportion of the frozen meat and butter required to feed the British forces. Australia sent 3,000 tons of corn beef before January, 1900, and, the supply becoming exhausted, 1,000 tons were ordered in the United States. The supply of cattle on the hoof in South Africa proving insufficient, cargoes were brought from the Argentine Republic, which also sent cavalry horses. Horses were bought in the United States also and in Hungary, the English horses having been found too heavy and not sufficiently hardy. Mules for transport were bought in the United States. The oats of the British Islands were too tender and unfit to stand the climate, and preference was given to Russian oats, and after them to American oats and what could be got from New Zealand. Canada supplied compressed vegetables and 3,000 tons of hay, and thousands of tons of oat hay came from Australia and alfalfa from the Argentine Republic. Canned meats could not be supplied in sufficient quantities by American packers, but 2,000 tons that were shipped from England were American cans rebranded.

Navigation.-The number of vessels entered at all ports during 1898 was 1,045, of 2,812,966 tons, of which 726, of 2,445,572 tons, were British; the number cleared was 1,065, of 2,789,989 tons, of which 720, of 2,401,772 tons, were British. In the coasting trade 1,288, of 3,897,088 tons, were entered and 1,293, of 3,927,311 tons, were cleared. The shipping belonging to the colony on Jan. 1, 1899, comprised 28 steamers, of 4,023 tons, and 7 sailing vessels, of 4,513 tons.

Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs.--The railroads belonging to the Government had on Jan. 1,

1899, a total length of 1,990 miles, not including 350 miles not yet completed. Of private railroads there were 358 miles. The cost of the Government lines was £20,222,263, an average of £10,162 a mile. The receipts for 1898 were £2,953,090; expenses, £2,012,390. The number of passengers carried was £10,013,432; tons of freight, 1,507,600. The postal traffic in 1898 was 23,339,379 letters, 9,862,080 newspapers, 750,568 postal cards, 2,303,400 books and samples, and 525,660 parcels.

The length of telegraph lines on Jan. 1, 1899, was 7,224 miles. The number of dispatches in 1898 was 2,321,082; receipts, £143,438; expenses, £132,867.

The Cape Rebels. The invasion of Cape Colony by Republican commandos was followed in the districts bordering on the Orange river and those north of that river by the adhesion of a large proportion of the inhabitants. Whenever a commando entered a town the Free State flag was hoisted, a meeting was held in the courthouse or the market place, and a proclamation was read annexing the district. The commandant then made a speech, in which he explained to the people that the people must thenceforward obey the Free State laws, though for the present they would be under martial law. A local landrost was appointed, and those who refused to accept Republican rule were given a few days in which to leave the district. Their property was often commandeered, and those who stayed were commandeered themselves besides giving up whatever of their possessions were required for military purposes, and were compelled to join the Boer commandos. Some thousands of Cape Colonists became burghers of the South African Republic, and joined the Transvaal army immediately before or just after the outbreak of hostilities. When the Free State commandos encamped on their own side of the Orange river preparatory to their invasion of Cape Colony other thousands from the northern and western districts joined them. And when they crossed the river and proclaimed the annexation of the northern part of the colony they were augmented by at least their own numbers of colonial Boers and sympathizers. In Vry burg, Barkly West, and other districts north of the Orange river as many colonists volunteered in the Transvaal and Orange Free State commandos as in the older parts of Cape Colony. Sir Alfred Milner calculated that in January, 1900, more than 10,000 Cape Colonists were fighting against the British, and the rebellion had not yet reached its height. It broke out spontaneously in places where no Boer commandos had appeared, and was spreading secretly when a vigilant military police, aided by loyal colonists, put a stop to the movement in the districts still in British occupation. When the invasion of the Free State by Lord Roberts drew away most of the burghers for the defense of their own soil, and when the British occupation of Bloemfontein convinced the majority of the rebellious colonists of the hopelessness of the Boer cause and the gradual reconquest of the annexed districts by the British forces rendered them powerless to serve the cause further in Cape Colony, the bulk of them returned quietly to their homes or made their submission, and only a comparatively few ardent ones marched northward with the retreating Boer columns. The question of the treatment to be extended to those who had borne arms against the Queen or given active aid to the enemy seemed one of vital importance to the Cape ministers, and it was one that could not be solved without the concurrence of the imperial authorities. They submitted a minute, which Sir Alfred Milner forwarded on April 28,

proposing the appointment of a judicial commission, comprising two judges of the Supreme Court and a barrister acceptable to the Secretary of State, for the trial of persons implicated in the rebellion, the commission to be vested with the powers of both judge and jury and to decide on a verdict by a majority vote. A few days later they sent an appeal for clemency for all except the principal offenders, whose trials would mark the magnitude of their offense, and whose punishment would serve as a deterrent, pointing out that the insurrection was a consequence of invasion and generally subsided as soon as the invading force was withdrawn, and that it was accompanied with few, if any, cases of outrage or murder and no great destruction of private property. The interests of sound policy and public morality demanded, instead of a general proscription of the misguided men who joined the ranks of the rebels, that the Imperial Government should issue as an act of grace a proclamation of amnesty for all persons chargeable for high treason except the leaders selected for trial. The agitation and unrest prevailing in the colony was due to uncertainty regarding their fate, and the future well-being of the colony depended on a policy of well-considered clemency, which would have the best possible effect on the loyal majority of the Dutch population, which had shown commendable self-restraint, and would help to unite the white races, between which harmony was a necessity in view of the large and increasing barbarian population. The rebellion was of a milder type than the one in Lower Canada, where moderation was adopted with the happiest results in 1838. Mr. Chamberlain, in his reply, argued that amnesty would place rebels in a better position than those who have risked life and property in the determination to remain loyal, and while sympathizing with a policy of clemency to rebels he held justice to loyalists to be an obligation of duty and honor, and that it was necessary in the interests of future peace to show that rebellion can not be indulged in with impunity or prove profitable to the rebel even if unsuccessful. Even those who were tools of others who had deceived them should learn individually that rebellion is a punishable offense. He distinguished between different categories of rebels: ringleaders and promoters; those who have committed outrages or looted property; those who have committed acts contrary to the usages of civilized warfare, such as abuse of the white flag, firing on hospitals, etc.; those who have openly and willingly waged war against the imperial forces; those who have confined themselves to aiding the enemy by giving information or furnishing provisions; and those who can prove that they have acted under compulsion. Recognizing the difficulty of indicting for high treason all who had taken part in the rebellion, he suggested the expediency of investigating either the proposed judicial commission or a separate commission with powers to schedule the names of persons impli cated in the rebellion under these various heads: the first three categories to be tried for high treason before the judicial commission, the fourth and fifth to be fined and disfranchised on pleading guilty, and the last to be merely disfranchised. The Secretary of State would not consider the Canadian rebellion a precedent because it was a rising in time of peace for the remedy of grievances and was not a formidable affair, whereas the Cape Colonists had gone over to the Queen's enemies and entailed danger and heavy losses on the troops. As to the duration of disfranchisement, he proposed that it should be for life. Mr. Chamberlain did not wait for the full text of the proposals of

the Cape ministers, but on receiving the telegraph summary made known at once the uncompromising policy of the Imperial Government. Not one of the ministers was willing to submit to the Cape Parliament a measure of the character demanded by the Secretary of State. Premier Schreiner and Attorney-General Solomon were willing to disfranchise the rebels for five years and compensate the loyalists for their losses, but they could not get any of their colleagues nor more than half a score of their followers even to agree to that measure of punishment for any except ringleaders. The Afrikander Bond was willing to accept a bill indemnifying the Government and the military authorities for acts committed under martial law and to grant compensation for property commandeered by the Boers, but only on condition of a full amnesty to the rebels who furnished a guarantee of good behavior. Ministers Merriman, Sauer, and Te Water vehemently opposed the Premier's proposed compromise, and saw no ground for punishing men for taking up arms in what they considered a righteous war. The deadlock in the Cabinet could not be broken. Mr. Schreiner, who before the war incurred the animosity of the English party through his efforts to bring about an understanding and preserve the peace of South Africa, had during the progress of the war given deep offense to the more earnest Afrikanders by countersigning the proclamations of the High Commissioner, in taking off the meat duties for the particular benefit of the refugee Uitlanders and to the detriment of the colonial producers, and for recruiting bodies of troops in the colony to fight on the British side, and especially for raising native levies in the native reserves. Mr. Solomon offended the majority of the supporters of the ministry when, instead of interfering to secure the constitutional rights of citizens who fell into the hands of the military, he gave full consent to the operations of martial law. Some of the acts of the military tribunals seemed monstrous to the Afrikanders, and the prospect of obtaining a bill of indemnity ratifying the acts done and sentences passed during the period of martial law was not promising. The courts-martial had sentenced men to do convict labor for five or ten years in districts where they had been held in honor and had sanctioned the looting of homesteads and farms on the ground that it was the property of rebels. Boer farmers were arrested wholesale, herded together for weeks in noisome cells, and finally released for want of evidence. The evidence of Kaffirs was taken against their masters. The secretary and other members of the South African League and some of the Johannesburg reformers went into the rebel districts as they were reoccupied and took the lead in the investigations, a volunteer committee for what the Dutch called smelling out rebels. No sentence or act of military courts or military officers, if justified only by martial law, is legal according to English law, and officers who carry out the decrees of military tribunals are liable to prosecution for wrongful assault or illegal detention unless the proceedings are ratified by a special act of the Legislature. The Dutch colonists regarded many of the sentences and acts of confiscation to which their kinsfolk were subjected as barbarous, and wished to preserve for them the right of appeal. The charges of treason brought against many members of the Cape Parliament reduced the Bond majority in the Assembly to only 4 votes. Mr. Schreiner attempted to form a coalition ministry, having the assistance of Mr. Rose-Inness, who urged the Progressives to support Mr. Schreiner in a policy of moderation and conciliation, giving the special

tribunal full discretion in punishing the ringleaders, but subjecting the others to only temporary disfranchisement. The South African League, which controlled the Progressive party, would not consent to a coalition with the moderate members of the Bond, and the Progressive leaders, expecting a speedy termination of the war, were willing to accept the responsibilities of office, since the support or even the abstention of Mr. Schreiner's handful of followers would give them a majority to start with. On June 13 Mr. Schreiner, seeing the attitude of the Progressives and the impossibility of his forming a coalition Cabinet and hoping that Mr. Rose-Inness could form one, instead of accepting the resignation of the dissentient ministers and endeavoring to reconstruct his Cabinet by the inclusion of moderate Progressives, placed the collective resignation of the ministry in the Governor's hands. Mr. Schreiner, although the parliamentary leader of the Bond party, never identified himself with the principles of the Bond. As the war progressed he co-operated more heartily with Sir Alfred Milner, his chief anxiety having been throughout to save the colony from civil war. A conciliation movement that was started by the Bond after the capture of Cronje at Paardeberg left little doubt of the ultimate defeat of the republics, which had for its objects the preservation of the independence of the republics and immunity for all who had taken part in the rebellion, received no countenance from Mr. Schreiner nor from Mr. Solomon, who proposed to appoint a judicial commission to visit the rebel districts and put the rebels on trial. At a conciliation congress at Graaff Reinet the Bond leaders demanded the unqualified independence of the republics, a permanent arbitration treaty, and the withdrawal of British troops from South Africa. This led to Mr. Schreiner's convoking a conference of the party, at which his policy was condemned by three fourths of the delegates. The resignation of the ministry followed necessarily this action of the caucus.

Sir Alfred Milner accepted Mr. Schreiner's resignation and called on Sir Gordon Sprigg to form a ministry. The Progressive leader first proposed to Mr. Solomon that he should continue in the office of Attorney-General, but it was finally decided that he should form a purely Progressive ministry. In this he succeeded, and on June 18 the new Cabinet was announced as follows: Premier and Treasurer, Sir J. Gordon Sprigg; Colonial Secretary, T. L. Graham; Attorney-General, J. Rose-Inness; Commissioner of Public Works, Dr. Smartt; Secretary for Agriculture, Sir Pieter H. Faure; without portfolio, J. Frost. The chief task of the new ministry, that of framing the laws dealing with the rebels, was thus given to Mr. Rose-Inness, who enjoyed the confidence of the moderate Afrikanders. Even after deducting the members of the Bond party who were in prison on charges of treason or had escaped from South Africa the Progressives were in a minority of 5. Parliament was opened on July 20. The AttorneyGeneral brought in a comprehensive bill for the indemnification of acts done in good faith under martial law, and confirming the sentences of the military tribunals for the punishment of rebels, and for the compensation of loyalists who had sustained direct losses during the war through military operations or the acts of the enemy or of rebels. The new Cabinet had adopted Mr. Solomon's measures just as he had drafted them. The special tribunal with the powers of a judge and the functions of a jury was to try only ringleaders. The sentence of disfranchisement was to be pronounced by commissions with quasi-judicial