been subject to the Ameer of Cabul, are now independent, but may hereafter be compelled to acknowledge allegiance to Abdurrahman; while others are constantly revolting. Even in the center of the country, among the tribes of Afghan blood, the Ameer is unable to exercise effective authority. The social system is tribal and patriarchal, and civil government exists only in a loose, feudal form. The Afghan tribes inhabit the valleys of the Cabul, Helmund, and Argandab rivers, a mountainous region lying between the Hindu Kush and Kohi Baba ranges on the northwest, and the Soliman Mountains on the southeast. The rugged and barren country in the southeastern corner of Afghanistan is sparsely peopled with wild tribes of kindred race. The Afghans follow pastoral and agricultural pursuits, but war is their favorite occupation. The tribes into which they are divided are exceedingly jealous of one another, and frequently engage in internecine strife. They only unite for the conquest and oppression of other peoples. The peaceful races inhabiting the northern slope of the mountains afforded a rich field for conquest. The province of Herat was wrested from the Persians in 1753. Only the threats of England prevented the Shah of Persia from regaining possession of Herat during the first Anglo-Afghan war, in 1838-42, and again in 1856. The inhabitants of this province, with the exception of the Saryk Tartars, and those of the whole western side of Afghanistan, as far as Ferrah, are of pure Iranian origin. They have degenerated into barbarism to a large extent under the Afghan dominion; yet in many of the tribes, such as the Tadjiks, the Timuris, the Kyzilbashes, and the Parsivans, are still cultivated the habits and traditions of civilization. Though identical in race and language with the Persians, they profess the Sunnite form of Mohammedanism, and therefore are but little attracted toward Persia. They would embrace any alliance, however, and hail any protector, so that they might be delivered from the galling and cruel yoke of the Afghans.

On the northern declivity of the Hindu Kush, the fertile valleys that lead down to the Oxus are peopled by diligent agriculturists and peaceful semi-nomads, mostly Uzbek Turcomans. The Afghan power first penetrated into this region near the end of last century, and reached the left bank of the Oxus about fifty years ago. The Turcomans had a powerful protector against the tyranny and rapacity of the Afghans in the Khan of Bokhara, until the power of the latter was broken by Russia, and Shere Ali was enabled, by subsidies received from England, firmly to establish his dominion along the whole bank of the Oxus. The khanates of Maimene and Andkhoi were never thoroughly subjugated, and rise in revolt at every promising opportunity. In the extreme east the provinces of Rochan and Chignan accept the sovereignty of Cabul

only when a military force is sent to occupy the country.

Diplomatic History of the Afghan Question. The chief political interest attaching to Afghanistan is derived from the fact that Great Britain is striving to preserve it as a neutral zone between India and the advancing power of Russia. About fifty years ago, when Russia was established on the north shore of the Sea of Aral, and first turned her eyes toward Turkistan, Great Britain felt the premonition of danger, and sought to bring the central Asian khanates under English influence and protection, so as to establish a barrier against Russia north of the Oxus. The more skillful strategy and diplomacy of the Russians won this favorable position, and gradually transplanted the power and influence of the Muscovite system, which ends in complete political absorption, across the desert steppes, to the fertile and populous oases of central Asia, thus acquiring a military base within striking distance of Herat, the "Key of India." In 1864, when the Russians occupied Chinakend and threatened Khokand, Prince Gortchakoff, in a circular to the powers, indicated a line between the Aral Sea and Issyk Kul, which was to be fortified and would mark the limit of Russian expansion. The reasons that he gave for the extension of the Russian dominions to that line that the civilizing mission of Russia in Asia required that the people who had been converted from warlike and predatory habits should be defended, in the pursuit of commerce and agriculture, from the depredations of the tribes that were still addicted to plunderwere partly the cause of transgressing the frontier which it was then thought possible to make secure, but were not sufficient to explain the subjection of Bokhara soon afterward, and the conquest of Khiva in 1873, and of Khokand in 1876. Already in 1866 England contented herself with obtaining Gortchakoff's assurance that the neutrality of Afghanistan should be respected, and with taking care that there should be an Afghanistan, by extending liberal subsidies to Shere Ali, for the purpose of consolidating and maintaining his rule. Shere Ali's faithless proceeding in entering into secret negotiations with Russia, during the conflict over the San Stefano Treaty, convinced the Disraeli Government of the worthlessness of an alliance with the Ameer. The only way to guard the land-route into India, they concluded, was with English troops. The murder of the English mission at Cabul furnished a cause for the invasion and conquest of Afghanistan. They prepared to establish themselves at Candahar and connect it with India by a military railroad. The prodigious cost of the Afghan campaign in blood and treasure, and the continual sacrifices and dangers involved in the maintenance of outposts and communications in the hostile Afghan country, as a provision against the remote and visionary contingency of a Russian invasion of India, cre

aced dissatisfaction in England and was the chief cause of the downfall of the Disraeli Cabinet.

Afghan Policy of the Gladstone Ministry.-The Liberals withdrew the British troops again behind the Bolan and Khyber passes. Mr. Gladstone, in censuring the Oriental policy of his predecessor, went so far as to declare that Russia would be welcome to extend her territory to the Indian frontier, as the neighborhood of a civilized and orderly state would be preferable to that of barbarous tribes. The real pol

summer of 1884, when the town was captured by Ishak Khan. When the first supply of money and arms was exhausted, others were sent to enable Abdurrahman to maintain possession of these rebellious northern provinces, and finally, in 1883, the British agreed to pay their ally a subsidy of a lac of rupees (nearly $50,000) a month, out of the Indian exchequer.

When the British placed Abdurrahman in authority in 1880, they concluded a defensive alliance with him of the same nature as those that formerly existed between them and Dost

icy of the British Government was, however, to re-establish and strengthen the Afghan military power, broken up by the English conquest. Abdurrahman, whom they set up as Ameer, was not selected as a man in whose fidelity the English could confide better than in that of Shere Ali or Yakub Khan, but as a monarch whom the Afghans would probably accept. Trained under Russian influence in Bokhara, he has proved a shrewd, wily, and resolute ruler. After establishing him in power at Cabal and providing him with treasure and weapons, the English gave no sign of control, but left Abdurrahman Khan unembarrassed in his difficult task. As the protégé of the English he needed all his craft and energy to gain the allegiance of the Afghan tribes. Thus the subjugated peoples in the north, who had hailed the overthrow of Shere Ali's military power as the deliverance from Afghan tyranny, were brought into subjection by the aid of able lieutenants. Herat was captured by a strategic stroke, and in two or three years the Ameer's authority was restored along the Oxas. Maimene was not reduced until the

Mohammed and Shere Ali. The Ameer agreed to follow unreservedly the advice of the British Government in regard to his foreign relations. The British Government engaged to aid in repelling unprovoked aggression on his dominions if any foreign power attempted to interfere in Afghanistan.

The reversal of Disraeli's plan of gaining possession of the line of advance from Herat, and asserting an effectual authority over the turbulent Afghans, is still condemned by the Tories in England, and never has met the approval of eminent military and Anglo-Indian authorities. In returning to the former policy of non-interference, coupled with liberal subsidies, in order to produce "a strong, united, and friendly Afghanistan," Gladstone reasons that the Afghans are so jealous, fierce, and formidable a people that no army would be allowed to advance peaceably through their country, or could spare the force necessary to maintain a line of transport against their attacks. A Russian advance upon India through Afghanistan has been the bugbear of the English for fifty years. An actual struggle between

the two powers for the possession of India is not now considered possible. Prince Bismarck illustrates its absurdity by the metaphor of a battle between a wolf and a fish, meaning that India's outlets and points of defense are all by sea, and therefore beyond the reach of a land power like Russia. Moreover, against Russia Great Britain could count on a larger measure of loyalty in India than they can ordinarily attract, and also upon the effective support of Europe. But a "diversion" in India, in the event of Russian complications or hostilities with Great Britain, was actually undertaken in the diplomatic contest following the Russo-Turkish War, and is felt on both sides to be an important strategic factor and a telling diplomatic weapon. Because the English have been able neither to cow nor to conciliate the Afghans, they do not suppose that the Russians would find them intractable. The dangers of the immediate proximity of the Northern Colossus to the English rule in India are appreciated even by the Liberals. However well disposed, the Russians would suggest hopes, particularly among the Mohammedans of the northwest, of deliverance from the British Raj; and with disaffection rife throughout India, as at present, the difficulties of government, at least by present methods, would be greatly enhanced. For this reason the British Government still aims to preserve the integrity and power of Afghanistan as a buffer between the two empires. The recent advances of Russia in the direction of Herat have stirred the English Cabinet from their repose.

Fresh Russian Annexations.-In 1883 Merv made its submission to the Czar. In the spring of 1884 a Russian force occupied and fortified the old strategic point of Sarakhs on the Heri Rud River, within 110 miles of Herat. About the same time the Saryk Tartars, who possess the stronghold of Penjdeh, still nearer Herat, and within its natural line of defense, were taken under the protection of the White Czar by Prince Dondoukoff-Korsakoff at Askabad, April 20th (see RUSSIA). These annexations bring Russia to the confines of the territory defined in the convention of 1873 between Great Britain and Russia as belonging to Afghanistan. In this the districts of Akcha, Sir-i-Pul, Maimene, Shibergan, and Andkoi are declared to be Afghan, though no topographical features are indicated as marking the frontier line.

British Action. This latest advance of Russia roused the British Government to unwonted activity. First, an armed exploring expedition under Col. Stewart was sent into Baluchistan, in order to assert inore effectually British authority in that country. The administration of the district of Quetta, which formed part of the dominions of the Khan of Kelat, was assumed by the Indian Government. It was decided to continue the military railway from Sibi to Quetta. Sir Robert Sandeman was placed in charge of the government, with his residence at Quetta. His administrative dis

trict comprises Quetta, Sibi, Pishin, and ThallChotiali.

Anglo-Russian Afghan Frontier Commission.-After the Russian annexation of Merv, the court of St. James entered into correspondence with the St. Petersburg authorities with reference to obtaining a technical understanding of the Afghan boundaries, which were guaranteed by treaty against Russian encroachments. After a protracted discussion the British Government agreed in the summer of 1884 to a basis of delimitation, which recognized the latest Russian acquisitions, and accepted the proposition of the Russian Government to appoint a mixed commission for the demarkation of the northern frontier of Afghanistan. The general terms of the agreement were, that the river Oxus should form the boundary between eastern Afghanistan and Bokhara, and that where the line leaves the river at Khoja Saleh it should proceed south and west, taking a circular course along the margin of the desert, and terminating on the Heri Rud river at Phuli Khatum.

In carrying out this plan, the English were embarrassed by annoying difficulties at the start, owing to their peculiar relations with their subsidized allies. It was found impracticable to convoy their commissioners through Afghanistan with a large British military force, although they expected to meet their colleagues attended by a guard sufficient not only to prevent attack, but to inspire the native population with respect for the military power of England. The Ameer was then asked to provide them with an Afghan guard; but this he refused to do. They next appealed to him to guarantee the safety of the expedition. He represented himself as unable to promise security from the attacks of the Durani Afghans of Zamindawar, if they took the direct Candahar-Girishk-Herat route. They were obliged therefore to creep around the edge of Afghanistan by the circuitous Mushki route through the desert to the Helmund. The Anglo-Indian Commission was not ready to start from Quetta before September. The head of the commission is Sir Peter Lumsden. The Indian contingent was attended by a picked guard of native Indian troops, consisting of 200 cavalry and 250 infantry, with armed followers enough to make a total force of 1,200 or 1,300. The party numbered eighteen officers and civilians. The commanding officer was Lieut.-Col. J. West Ridgeway.

The Quetta Railway.-The British Government, in the spring of 1884, authorized the immediate extension to Quetta of the strategic railroad, built during the Afghan war, in the direction of the Bolan Pass, as far as Sibi. It was the intention to carry the road through as soon as it could be built, to Candahar, when, on the accession of the Liberals, the works were stopped at Rindli, twenty miles from Sibi. The Harnai Pass was subsequently chosen in preference to the Bolan Pass, as the route of the projected railroad. When the Sibi

years previous to 1880, in the counties of Mobile and Baldwin, and more recently on the lands of the pine belt contiguous to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. An equal area will be subjected to the same devastation within the next five or six years.

The belt of long-leaf pine traversing the center of Alabama from its eastern limits to near its western borders, extends over 550 or 600 square miles. By numerous measurements it was ascertained to average fully 5,000 feet to the acre. The amount of timber standing has been estimated at 1,750,000,000 feet, board

measure.

The lumber business is most actively carried on along the North and South division of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in Chilton

and Autauga counties. Eighteen million feet, board measure, were shipped in 1880 from the mills of one company to Northern markets; and 50,000,000 feet can be taken as the annual average product of the mills along the above-named railroad line. To these must be added the 24,000,000 feet produced by the mills along the Selma, Rome, and Dalton Railroad, bringing the annual products of this interior timber belt to 92,000,000 feet. In view of these facts, and the estimated amount of timber standing, its timber supplies will be exhausted in less than a quarter of a century from 1880. The less extensive pine-forests in the interior of Alabama, fronting Coosa river, and the detached patch in Walker county, bear a timber been estimated to add another 1,080,000,000 growth equal to any in the State, which has

feet to its timber wealth.

Cotton-Factories.-On June 1, 1880, Alabama had 55,072 spindles and 1,060 looms in operation; on Jan. 1, 1884, 82,057 spindles and 1,614 looms.

Education.—The latest report of the Superintendent of Education covers the year ending Sept. 30, 1883. The amount of the public school fund for the year was $418,006.22, of which $136,733.12 consisted of the poll-tax collected and retained in the counties, $130,000 was the annual legislative appropriation, and the balance consisted of the income of investments and unexpended balances. Of the total, $263,652.47 was apportioned to cities and counties. The expenditures during the year were

as follow:

ham, Eufaula, Huntsville, Montgomery, and The public schools of the cities of Birming Selma are mainly supported by local appropriations. The normal schools are at Florence, Marion, Huntsville, and Tuskegee. The Legislature at its late session established two additional ones for the education of white teachers, with an annual appropriation to each of $2,500. One of these is to be at Jacksonville, the other at Livingston. The Legislature, at its late session, having increased the annual appropriation for the support of the public schools $100,000, the total fund for the year 1883-'84 is estimated at $510,000.

Political. The Democratic State Convention

met in Montgomery on the 4th of June, and nominated the following ticket:

State, Ellis Phelan; State Treasurer, Fred H. Smith; For Governor, Edward A. O'Neal; for Secretary of N. McClellan; Superintendent of Education, SoloAuditor, M. C. Burke; Attorney-General, Thomas mon Palmer.

The platform adopted contained the following:

produced only about $800,000 of revenue, and the exTen years ago, with a tax rate of 74 mills, there was penses of government were about $1,500,000; while now, with a rate of 6 mills, we have raised and expended for the past year about $1,100,000, and lost by the late State Treasurer's default, there is now the result is that notwithstanding the large amount in the Treasury a larger amount, over and above liabilities, than at any previous time in the State's history.

The management of the State convicts, a most troucally, though new and imperfect in some respects, is blesome and difficult matter theoretically and practiapproaching a solution in a manner consonant with the humane ideas of the age; at the same time that justice is done to the guilty, the State's financial interest guarded, and the health and comfort of convicts being now carefully protected.

The Republican State Convention was held in Montgomery on the 15th of April. Delegates to the Republican National Convention to be held in Chicago were chosen, and presidential electors were nominated. The platform contained the following:

We demand in the interest of home labor and the development of the vast wealth of Alabama in ironore, coal, and other minerals, as well as for the encouragement of all our now growing and progressive industries, and to afford the farmer a market at his