Massachusetts, 160,000; in Illinois, 144,000; in New Jersey, 86,000. Bryan's plurality exceeded 100,000 only in Texas and in Colorado. The vote for Palmer and Buckner was everywhere insignificant. — The voting for Congress resulted in a Republican plurality of about 70 in the next House of Representatives, with a Populist delegation of thirteen. The Senate seems likely to be very close, with probably a majority opposed to free coinage.

ELECTIONS FOR STATE OFFICERS. — The disputed election in Louisiana (see last RECORD) was settled by a compromise under which the Democratic governor was seated without serious opposition; but on the understanding that a new election law should be passed, which should render impossible in the future the frauds which were generally acknowledged to have been committed, and, further, that a constitutional convention should be held as soon as possible, to change the qualifications for the suffrage so as effectually to restrict the black vote. Oregon, June 1, was carried by the Republicans, with considerable gains for the Populists. Alabama, August 3, gave a heavy Democratic majority over a fusion of Republicans and Populists. Vermont, September 1, and Maine, September 14, gave unprecedented Republican pluralities, nearly 40,000 in the former and 50,000 in the latter. On the other hand, in Arkansas, September 6, in Florida, October 6, and in Georgia, October 7, the Democrats won by 52,000, 18,000 and 30,000 respectively. In the voting on November 3 the states that were carried by McKinley quite generally chose Republican state officers. Of particular interest was the defeat of the Democratic Governor Altgeld, who was running for a second term in Illinois, and who had incurred much odium by pardoning the Chicago anarchists. The Bryan states for the most part chose Democratic state officers, though through fusion the Populists in some cases secured the governorship, e.g., in Kansas and Nebraska. — A primary election of the Democratic Party in South Carolina, September 8, to name the party's choice for candidate for United States senator, resulted in the triumph of Judge Earle over Governor Evans. As the latter was the candidate of Senator Tillman, long the leader of the party, the result was regarded as pointing to the decline of the latter's power.

VARIOUS STATE LEGISLATION.— The Raines Liquor-Tax Law, which went into full effect in New York in July, produced a revenue fully one-third greater than was anticipated, and is generally regarded as very successful. The number of saloons in the cities was materially reduced by the increase of the license fee, and the restrictions as to Sunday selling were made generally effective, though some opportunities for evasion were found in the special provisions of the law as to hotels and clubs. — An amendment repealing the clause of the constitution of South Dakota which prohibited the sale of liquor was ratified at the November election. — The Illinois Flag-Raising Law, requiring under penal sanction the display of the national colors on schools and other public buildings, was declared unconstitutional, so far as the sanction was concerned, by the circuit court of the

state, June 26. Laws of similar import have been enacted by a large number of the states during the last two years. - In Louisiana a proposed constitutional amendment establishing a property or intelligence qualification for the suffrage failed of ratification in the April elections. The legislature, in its summer session, enacted an Australian ballot law, and took the preliminary steps towards another constitutional convention to deal with the suffrage question. A woman-suffrage amendment to the constitution of California was rejected at the November election by 15,000 majority. In Idaho a like amendment received a majority of votes cast on the question, but there was uncertainty as to whether this was legally sufficient for ratification. — At the end of October the New York Court of Appeals declared unconstitutional a law requiring a bi-partisan police board for Albany, on the ground, chiefly, that such a requirement established an extra-constitutional test of eligibility to office. In Florida the courts in October held unconstitutional the law prohibiting the teaching of whites and negroes in the same school. The ground of the decision was technical and did not touch the subject-matter of the law. - In Illinois the supreme court, November 9, declared the Torrens land-registration act unconstitutional.

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. Through a victory won in the spring elections by the Citizens' League of New Orleans a thorough reform of the government in that city has been effected. A new charter, drafted by the League, was passed by the legislature and went into effect in August. Its provisions embody the ideas most strongly advocated by municipal reformers: A paid city council; single heads of departments, appointed and removed by the mayor; a civil-service commission providing competitive examinations for all non-elective offices; and the sale of all franchises to the highest bidder. - In San Francisco a charter drafted under reform auspices and embodying stringent provisions for excluding political influence in appointments to office was rejected by the voters at the November elections.

In Chicago the first year of work of the civil-service commission which resulted from the reform triumph in April, 1895 (see RECORD for June, 1895, p. 374), was completed in August. The record of its activity shows that it has practically abolished all the evils of the spoils system in appointments to municipal offices. In accordance with an act of the last New York legislature looking to the consolidation of New York, Brooklyn and a number of suburban districts into a single municipality, a commission has been at work throughout the summer formulating a draft charter for the proposed municipality. The personnel of the commission and the results of their deliberations thus far made public indicate that progressive ideas will be manifest in the instrument when completed.

LYNCH LAW. - A summary of the lynchings of which reports have come to the attention of the compiler shows the following results: In the South (i.e. slave states in 1860), twenty-five negroes and six white men ; in the rest of the country, two whites and one half-breed Indian. The offenses

alleged were among the negroes actual or attempted rape in twelve cases, other crimes in thirteen ; among the whites, rape in two cases, other offenses in three; in case of the half-breed Indian, rape. These figures exclude several instances of so-called "race war," in which conflicts between armed whites and armed blacks in considerable bodies resulted in loss of life, generally most serious on the side of the blacks. Incidents of this kind were reported in Florida and in Georgia during July, and in Arkansas in August. Of the whites lynched in the South three were Italians, who were taken from jail and killed by a mob in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, August 9, under circumstances that recalled the incident at New Orleans in 1891. The prisoners were under charges of murder, the victims in two of the cases having been Italians and in the third an American. It was believed that all the crimes were the work of a Mafia; and when the last occurred, the neighbors of the victim took the assassin from jail, and at the same time concluded, after discussion, that the other two had better be disposed of in the same way. The Italian minister made representations on this matter at Washington, and an indemnity was promised. Louisiana was the scene of the largest percentage of lynchings. That none was reported from South Carolina was attributed to the influence of the law lately enacted there in reference to the subject (see last RECORD, p. 379).

II. FOREIGN NATIONS.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. - Beyond the actions of the powers in connection with Turkish affairs, described below, the general trend of diplomatic relations has been illustrated by the incidents of the Czar's visit to the courts of the other great powers. Accompanied by the Czarina, Nicholas II met the Austrian emperor at Vienna, August 27, the German emperor at Breslau, September 5, Queen Victoria at Balmoral, September 22, and entered France at Cherbourg, October 5. The feature of the whole journey was the magnificent ceremony with which the Russian monarch was received and entertained in France, and especially in Paris. His presence was made the occasion of most impressive popular festivities, and every means was employed to emphasize the cordial relations between the two nations. The German emperor appeared scarcely less eager in courting the Czar's favor, and the whole press of Europe has been busily engaged in earnest but quite untrustworthy interpretations of every incident of the journey as bearing on possible developments in international politics. connection with this discussion Prince Bismarck's newspaper organ, the Hamburger Nachrichten, published, October 26, an article revealing that from 1884 to 1890 Germany had a secret treaty with Russia, in which each agreed to remain neutral in case the other should be attacked by a third power. This revelation, indicating that Bismarck had not allowed his participation in the Triple Alliance to interfere with the maintenance of an understanding

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with the Czar, caused a considerable sensation throughout Europe. field of commercial relations, two incidents are worthy of record. During the summer, in consequence of a concession by the Spanish Cortes, the tariff war between Spain and Germany (see this QUARTERLY, vol. ix, p. 772) was brought to an end. On September 30 a treaty was signed between Italy and France, as protector of Tunis, by which the tariff discriminations against Italian goods imported into Tunis were abolished. In consideration of this, Italy abandoned the exemption of her subjects from the jurisdiction of the French courts in Tunis. The importance of the treaty lies in the fact that in it Italy recognizes the French protectorate over Tunis, and thus a long-standing source of irritation between the two nations is removed.

TURKEY AND THE CHRISTIANS. The internal condition of the Sultan's dominion has not improved during the period under review. The slaughter of Armenians has been almost continuous, with three episodes of particular prominence. At the city of Van, in the latter part of June, a demonstration by Armenian revolutionary agitators was promptly followed by the massacre of some 1200 Armenians and the destruction of great quantities of property by fire and pillage. More attention was attracted by the affair at Constantinople in August. On the 26th a concerted demonstration by Armenian agitators was made in various parts of the city. Most of the outbreaks were readily suppressed by the police. But at the central point of the affair was a band of some twenty-five conspirators, who, provided with fire-arms and dynamite, seized by force the Ottoman Bank, held its employees as hostages, and maintained for many hours a brisk conflict with the troops which quickly surrounded their stronghold. Through foreign officials the adventurers, who threatened to blow up the building, were at length induced to leave on guarantee of their personal safety. But for their fellow-countrymen in the city no such security was possible. As soon as the news of the exploit got abroad a general movement of the Mohammedan populace against all Armenians began, and for several days the whole city was a scene of slaughter and plundering. While the work was largely carried on by the lower classes of Turks, charges were freely made and evidence offered that government officials gave direction and organization to the mobs, and that the troops were not seriously used for the suppression of the disorders. Quiet was restored only after very energetic representations to the Porte by the ministers of the powers. It was estimated that over 2000 Armenians were killed by the rioters; and afterwards, through the proceedings instituted by the authorities for rooting out the revolutionary agitators, many more suffered legal punishment, and thousands went into voluntary or involuntary exile. In the middle of September a third slaughter on a large scale was reported from Armenia, the town of Eguin on the upper Euphrates being destroyed and a thousand of its people killed. A number of minor incidents of this character were attributed to the discontent and real misery of the Turkish soldiery who

occupy the country, and who, owing to the Porte's financial difficulties, have in many cases neither pay nor supplies. As to the relations between the powers and the Porte on the Armenian question, no evidence has appeared of a change in the status established at the very beginning of the difficulty. Russia, supported by the Continental powers, refuses either to unite in joint action or to permit isolated action beyond diplomatic pressure for general administrative reforms. During the riots at Constantinople the apparent danger of a general massacre of Christians brought the six powers together in a peremptory demand upon the Porte for the suppression of the disorder, and joint notes of August 31 and September 15 alleged in emphatic terms that the rioters had had official support. This allegation the Porte denied, laying all responsibility for the disturbance upon the Armenian revolutionists. During September a vehement agitation, through public meetings and the press, arose in Great Britain for decisive action against the Sultan. Mr. Gladstone, in frequent letters and in a fiery address before a great meeting at Liverpool, September 24, denounced Abdul Hamid as "the great assassin"; and this cry was taken up by many of the Liberal leaders. The ministry and its supporters opposed to the agitation the plea that action by Great Britain alone would precipitate a general European war. A similar agitation, though on a much smaller scale, developed in Germany and elsewhere on the Continent, but it was stoutly opposed by the governments and the influential press. During the first week in November the Sultan, stimulated apparently by a speech of the French minister of foreign affairs in which joint action by the powers was distinctly threatened, issued orders for the execution in Constantinople and Asia Minor of a number of reformatory measures which the ambassadors had long been urging in vain. At the same time, to relieve the financial straits of the government, a poll tax was levied on the Mohammedan population, in the form, however, of a voluntary subscription. — Toward the end of May the perennial tension between Christians and Moslems in Crete developed into civil war, and introduced a new element of confusion into Turkish affairs. Discontented with the government's refusal to summon the legislature as required by law, and probably influenced by Greek revolutionary agitators, the Christians in various places attacked the Turkish garrisons. The Mohammedans of the towns promptly took up the cause of their co-religionists, and the usual savagery of race and religious warfare manifested itself throughout the west of the island. Heavy bodies of troops were hurried to the scene by the Porte, while many volunteers and supplies in considerable quantities came to the Christians from Greece, where popular sympathy for the insurgents was strong and demonstrative. The European powers busied themselves from the outset in restraining the excesses of the conflict, on the one hand making energetic representations to the Porte against the ferocious proceedings of the ill-disciplined and unpaid soldiery, and on the other hand requiring the Greek government to repress the movements of its subjects in support of the insurgents. Upon the begin