Ulti lic mother and the refusal of the Pope to sanction the proceeding. mately the mother absented herself from Sofia, and the Pope's attitude was disregarded. At the ceremony the Czar, in the person of one of his generals, officiated as sponsor. Meanwhile, the Sultan, doubtless under Russian influence, granted readily the demand that Prince Ferdinand be officially recognized as ruler of Bulgaria. All the powers signatory of the Treaty of Berlin promptly followed this example, and in March, amid general festivity, the princely court entered upon the regular forms of diplomatic intercourse with foreign governments. At the end of the month Prince Ferdinand visited Constantinople and received from the Sultan formal investiture as vassal prince.-In Servia the Skupshtina met November 27, and was notified in the royal address that a scheme for constitutional revision was contemplated. A joint commission of fourteen for devising a plan for settling the questions in dispute between Norway and Sweden began its sessions at Stockholm in December. THE ORIENT. — Japan reached a final adjustment of the Chinese war in November by bringing to a successful conclusion the military campaign that had been necessary to insure her occupation of Formosa. The natives of this island had refused to recognize Japanese authority, though China had formally ceded the island. On the 12th of December the Japanese forces evacuated Port Arthur, the conditions of the supplementary treaty having been fulfilled by China. The Japanese Parliament assembled December 28, with an encouraging outlook for legislation. Through agreement between the Liberal Party and the cabinet, it was understood that certain reforms in the way of freedom of speech and extension of the franchise should be conceded, and that the ministry would admit the necessity of resigning if it failed to retain the support of a majority in the Parliament. - In China vigorous measures of punishment for the recent outrages on Christians were carried through under the supervision of the powers. The American commission appointed to get redress for violence to missionaries at Chengtu traveled in impressive state for 1300 miles through the empire, and at the scene of the outrage saw the culprits properly punished. — The Corean capital has been the scene of disturbances that appear to reveal a conflict between Russia and Japan for the dominant influence. The reforms which the Japanese required in the administration excited considerable discontent both at court and among the people. In October the queen, who was practically at the head of the government, was murdered by a faction headed by the king's father and supported by the Japanese. On the 11th of February this faction in turn was overthrown by orders from the king, who had first taken refuge in the Russian embassy. The prime minister and other leaders were slain, and Russian influence was said to be firmly established. — Persistent rumors have circulated to the effect that China has granted Russia important railway and harbor concessions in Manchuria, but nothing authentic has come to light. The Shah of Persia was assassinated, May 1, by a religious fanatic. Muzafer-ed-Din, son of the deceased, succeeded peaceably to the throne. AFRICA. — This continent has furnished, during the last six months, an unusually large number of important incidents. The affairs of the Transvaal are treated under another head (p. 381). At the other end of the continent the projects of the Italians in Abyssinia have met with a paralyzing reverse. The advance of General Baratieri's force southward, which was under headway at the close of the last RECORD, soon produced evidence that King Menelik had not been killed by lightning, as reported, but was confronting the Italians with a great army. Early in December an advanced column of the Italians was cut to pieces by the Abyssinians at Ambalagi, and shortly afterward the fortress of Makaleh was invested. On the 23d of January the Italian garrison, after a brave defense, were obliged to evacuate the town and retreat northward. Negotiations for peace proved futile, as Menelik demanded the entire withdrawal of the Italians from Abyssinian territory, and this was refused. After desultory fighting during February, General Baratieri, on March 1, made an attack in force on Menelik's army at Adowa, and was overwhelmingly defeated, with the loss of several thousand of men and all his artillery. The remnants of the Italian force retreated to Asmara, and relinquished nearly all the positions which they had occupied in the last two years, during their gradual advance into the Abyssinian province of Tigre. General Baldissera, who before the disaster had been designated to supersede Baratieri in command, entered again into negotiations with Menelik for peace, but failed to secure satisfactory terms from that monarch. Under the impulse of the home government's efforts to supply reënforcements and of Great Britain's aid, the Italians prepared to hold some of the positions that had been on the point of abandonment. In April King Menelik, with the bulk of his forces, withdrew into the southern provinces. Ten days after the defeat of the Italians at Adowa, it was announced that an Anglo-Egyptian expedition up the Nile would at once advance from Wady Halfa, the southernmost town controlled by Egypt, toward New Dongola, in the Mahdist territory. The motive of this advance was found in threatening movements of the Dervishes at several points along the frontier, especially in the neighborhood of Kassala and of Suakin. The occupation of Kassala by the Italians (see this QUARTERLY, IX, 782) had been a serious blow to the Dervishes, who, it was thought, would now be encouraged by the recent defeat of the Italians to make serious efforts to recover it. A little friction among the European powers was developed in connection with the Dongola expedition (see above, p. 381). Late in March, however, the movement of the forces, 20,000 strong, began under the command of General Kitchener. Having attained the possession of Akasheh, about one-third of the distance to Dongola, without serious opposition, further advance was suspended while fortifications, railways and other prerequisites for larger operations were made serviceable. The Egyptian financial statement for 1895 showed a surplus revenue of £1,100,000, of which £412,000 was alloted to debt conversion, £363,000 to the reserve, and the remainder was left at the disposal of the - government. Nubar Pasha resigned his position as prime minister, November 11, on account of advanced age. He was succeeded by Mustapha Fehmy Pasha.—The British expedition against Ashanti ended without bloodshed. Upon the approach of the troops to Coomassie, in the middle of January, King Prempeh announced his submission, and accepted all the British demands. He was sent to the coast as a prisoner, and his territory was all brought under British rule. An incident of the expedition was the death at sea of Prince Henry of Battenberg, of a fever contracted while accompanying the troops as a volunteer. —An uprising of the recently conquered Matabele took place at the end of March in the neighborhood of Buluwayo, and soon assumed serious dimensions. The disorganized condition of the South Africa Company's forces, due to the Jameson raid into the Transvaal, caused considerable difficulty in dealing with the rebels. Through the early part of April the murder of isolated settlers and the destruction of their property were reported from all directions. Some detachments of the native police joined the rebels, who by the end of the month had practically invested Buluwayo. British relief forces were set in motion from the Cape Colony, and troops were sent to that place from England, though the Boer government looked with much suspicion upon this proceeding. Through a new treaty concluded January 18, Madagascar became fully a French possession, instead of a protectorate, as had been the effect of the original treaty. – The Congo State government agreed in November to pay an indemnity of 150,000 fr. for the execution of the British subject Stokes, who was irregularly condemned by the Congo officer, Major Lothaire (see last RECORD). The trial of Lothaire for murder in the Congo State resulted, however, in his acquittal. LATIN AMERICAN STATES.— Great Britain's ultimatum to Venezuela in reference to the Uruan incident (see last RECORD, p. 756), was presented through the German legation at Caracas in November. Νο further information in respect to it has transpired, and the matter was said to have become merged in the negotiations for a general settlement in which the United States has been engaged with Great Britain since December. It was reported in March that Great Britain had consented to the proposition made by the United States, that the Uruan incident be divorced entirely from the boundary dispute and be settled independently. A revolutionary movement in Venezuela in December failed to develop much strength; but this was explained by the declaration of one of the leaders, that it was thought unpatriotic to embarrass the government while the boundary dispute with Great Britain was in a critical stage. — Nicaragua became the scene in February of a revolutionary uprising, based on the charge that President Zelaya was aiming at the dictatorship. Fighting was in progress throughout March and April, and Honduras sent troops into the disturbed state to aid Zelaya. By May 1 the insurgents had been driven from their last stronghold, the city of Leon, and peace was restored. WM. A. DUNNING. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED FOR NOTICE. ALTAMIRA, R. La Enseñanza de la Historia. Madrid, 1895. BERGMANN, E. VON. Geschichte der Nationalökonomischen Krisentheorieen. Stuttgart. W. Kohlhammer, 1895. COMMONS, J. R. Proportional Representation. New York. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1896. CONANT, CHARLES A. A History of Modern Banks of Issue. New York and London. C. P. Putnam's Sons, 1896. DENIS, HECTOR. La Dépression Économique et Sociale. Ixelles-Bruxelles. G. J. Huysmans, 1895. GIDE, CHARLES. Principes d'Économie Politique. Cinquième édition, refondue et augmenteé. Paris. Larose et Forcel, 1896. GORDY, J. P. A History of Political Parties in the United States. Vol. I. Athens, Ohio. The Ohio Publishing Co., 1895. GROSS, CHARLES (Editor). Select Cases from the Coroners' Rolls. HOWE, F. C. The Internal Revenue System in the United States. New Co., 1896. MALLOCK, W. H. MAYES, EDWARD. Richelieu. London and New York. Macmillan & Classes and Masses. London. A. & C. Black, 1896. Lucius Q. C. Lamar. His Life, Times, and Speeches. Nashville. Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South, 1896. MOFFETT, S. R. Suggestions on Government. Chicago. Rand, New York. Thomas Y. SEELEY, J. R. Introduction to Political Science. New York and London. Macmillan & Co., 1896. TUTTLE, HERBERT. History of Prussia. Vol. 4. With Biographical Sketch by Professor H. B. Adams. WARSCHAUER, OTTO VON. Geschichte des Socialismus und Communismus im 19. Jahrhundert. Abteilung 3. Berlin. Louis Blanc, 1896. WILLOUGHBY, W. W. The Nature of the State. New York and London. Macmillan & Co., 1896. POLITICAL SCIENCE, QUARTERLY. PRIMITIVE DEMOCRACY IN BRITISH TRADE THE UNIONISM.1 I. HE first problem which trade-unionists have had to solve is that of all governments. They have had to construct an administration able to perform with efficiency the functions entrusted to it. But efficiency is not the principal requirement. In the narrow range of the artisan's life trade-union membership is no small matter. It demands from him the weekly renewed sacrifice of perhaps three per cent of his income. It involves, moreover, his subordination in all the essential conditions of his working life to rigid rules settled for him by the representatives of his trade. Now, though it is conceivable that a strong trade union might coerce a few individual workmen to continue in its ranks against their will, no such coercive influence could permanently prevail over a discontented majority, or prevent the secession, either individually or in a body, of any considerable number who were seriously disaffected. The persistence of any trade union is, therefore, fundamentally dependent on the continuous assent of the great bulk of its members to its objects and policy. The frequency with which, in our History of Trade-Unionism, we have had to describe the crumbling away of membership, or the secession of whole branches or sections of a trade, proves that, at any rate in trade-union organization, the continuous assent of the governed is the primary condition of existence. 1 Copyright, 1896, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. 397 |