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ligious ministers of its own than the judicial bench or the Legislative Chamber. If the parish vicars in the garrison towns refused to extend their spiritual ministrations to the military, their pay would be stopped. A provision in the budget cuts off the salary or stipend attached to any place in which a foreign priest officiates who has not received the permission of the Government.

The Government declared, in response to an interpeliation, in May, that no overtures had been made by the Vatican toward the reopen ing of diplomatic relations. During King Leopold's visit to Vienna, on the occasion of his daughter's wedding, he met the former nuncio, Vanutelli, in the presence of his cabinetchief, Frère-Orban, but was not approached on the subject of resuming diplomatic intercourse. An angry controversy broke out among the Clericals between the extreme Ultramontanes, represented by Professor Périn, of Louvain, and the moderate portion. The former held persistently to the doctrine advanced in the Syllabus of Pius IX, and would not acknowledge the secularized Belgium, in which the therein defined relations to the Church were disregarded, to be a legitimately constituted state. The Clerical representatives in Parliament were bitterly assailed for accepting the new order of things and seeking a modus vivendi with the state. This contest called forth a reproof from Pope Leo, who significantly admonished the Catholics of Belgium that the Church, while maintaining unalloyed its holy teachings and principles of jurisprudence, preserves always a "discreet attitude," has "due regard for the right mode suited to the time and place," and often finds itself obliged "to submit to evils which it finds it almost impossible to prevent without exposing itself to still worse evils and complications." The bishops felt impelled by the Pope's letter to remove Périn, the pragmatical upholder of the Syllabus, from the chair of Civil Law in the University of Louvain.

A law has been made providing that the glebe-lands shall be administered in the same manner as the other state demesnes, and may also be alienated by the Government. Clergy who have received the revenues of the church estates are to be paid entirely out of the public treasury. The vicar Yserbyt, and villagers of Heule, near Courtrai, who created a disturb ance in the latter part of 1889, were sentenced to prison.

President Guillery, of the House of Deputies, was overruled by the vote of his own party on a question of order, March 10th, and conceiving the action of the House to be an infraction of his authority, he resigned. A member of the Right had stated that the army had resented partisan orders of the War Minister. The president accepted as sufficient a declaration of the member, Woeste, that he would retract the words, but still held to the opinions; but the House demanded a completer apology for the

insult to the army. The Deputies elected in Guillery's place Descamps, the first vice-president.

The Government carried a measure for the reorganization of secondary schools. A proposal brought forward by the advanced Liberals to abolish religious instruction in the middle-class schools was not accepted by the Government, and was defeated in the Chamber. The motion was to rescind the provision of the law of 1850, according to which the clergy are invited to impart religious instruction in secondary schools, and leave religious teaching to the families of pupils.

The Government has established 12 additional colleges and 100 intermediate schools, 56 for boys and 44 for girls.

The election registry for 1881 contains about 9,000 names less than in 1879, the number of voters in a total population of 5,536,654 souls being 116,090. A large number of names were dropped from the lists in 1880, and an additional number in 1881, on the ground that the omitted persons did not pay the amount of taxes which legally qualifies them for the franchise. They were mostly peasants and men in holy orders. At the rate of progression which took place anterior to this strict construction of the law, the number of voters would be 131,000 or over. The lists of communal electors have, by a like rigorous application of the election laws, been reduced from 384,549 names in 1879 to 373,666 in 1881. The fees for naturalization have been reduced by Parliament from 1,000 and 5,000 francs for the two grades, to half those amounts.

In the summer an agitation was commenced in favor of universal suffrage, or for the establishment of an educational instead of the tax qualification. Mass-meetings were held in Brussels, Antwerp, and elsewhere. The Radical, Janson, demanded in the Chamber that the Government show its colors on this question. For communal and provincial elections to begin with, the abolition of the limitation or the substitution of an intellectual test was asked for. The Minister of Finance replied that the question was not yet ripe, that the Constitution prescribed the cense, and that if the matter were carried before the country the Liberal party would be divided and the Clerical opposition would succeed to the helm. The subject was brought forward again when a law relating to the provincial assemblies was under consideration. The Prime Minister proposed to defer Janson's proposition, to which the mover agreed; but the seconder, Dufuisseaux, deserted by his friends, felt called upon to resign his seat. An extension of the franchise would benefit the Clerical and Social-Democratic parties; for which reason the Liberal ministry, though not opposed to the reform, will not take the step without cautiously measuring the effects. The elections of delegates to the municipal councils in October resulted in a marked victory for the Liberals.

Stéphanie, daughter of the King of the Belgians, was married, May 10th, to the CrownPrince Rudolph of Austria. (See AUSTRIA.)

The Minister-President, Bounder de Malsbroek, was transferred in January from Copenhagen and Stockholm to Washington.

The German commercial treaty of 1865 was renewed, and is to continue in force until one year after one of the contracting powers has given notice of dissolving it.

Count Auguste Van der Straaten-Ponthoz was transferred from his post at the Hague to succeed the venerable Baron Nothomb (see OBITUARIES) at Berlin. Baron d'Anethan, former Belgian representative at the Vatican, was appointed minister to the Hague.

The latest law for military organization provides for an army of 46,277 men, including all officers, police, and non-combatants, with 10,014 horses and 204 guns, in time of peace; and for a war force, of 103,683 men, not counting officers, gendarmery, etc., with 13,800 horses and 240 guns. The army comprises 18 line regiments of infantry, with 3 line and 1 reserve battalion each, and 1 rifle regiment with 4 line and 2 reserve battalions, every battalion consisting of 4 companies, and the company of 100 men in peace and 225 in war, exclusive of officers. The cavalry consists of 8 regiments, of 4 line and 1 reserve squadron each, the squadron having 120 horses in time of peace and 154 in war. The field-artillery consists of 2 regiments with and 2 without mounted batteries, each regiment containing 10 batteries of 6 guns, with 94 men and 64 horses in time of peace and 155 men and 152 horses on a war-footing. There are 3 regiments of standing artillery of 18 batteries, each battery being manned with 78 men in peace and 176 in war; 1 engineer regiment of 3 battalions with 10 companies each, 85 men strong in peace and 300 strong in war. The Belgian Citizens' Guard, or militia, has 120,000 men enrolled, of which 30,000 are active. The King, in an address on the occasion of the opening of the new dock at Ghent, declared that the secure establishment of national military defenses ought to keep even pace with the advancement in material prosperity, referring to the development of a strong military reserve, which has been the aim of the Belgian Government for many years.

BI-METALLIC STANDARD. The International Monetary Congress, which was held in connection with the Paris Exposition of 1878, having produced no practical result, the Government of France endeavored during the two years following to initiate a movement for bringing the nations together for some more formal action. France and other members of the Latin Union still maintained the double, or bi-metallic, monetary standard; Great Britain persisted in the single gold standard, ex-, cept for India, where silver constituted the currency; Germany, having recently adopted the gold standard, continued to dispose of her

surplus stock of silver; and the United States, which had resumed the coinage of legal-tender silver dollars, was apprehensive of derangement of her financial system by a further decline in the value of silver. France and the United States were disposed to adhere to bimetallism, but it was generally recognized that some broader international agreement was necessary in order to maintain the relative value of the metals and give it stability. Great Britain showed no disposition to yield its single-standard policy, but was interested in sustaining the value of silver on account of its extensive use as currency in her Eastern colonies. Germany had given no evidence of a desire to recede from its action of 1873, but was apparently willing to discuss the subject, and to submit her sales of silver to restrictions. Austria was inclined to a cautious policy, dependent on the future action of Germany and Great Britain.

An effort was made in 1880 by France to secure a monetary conference at Paris in November of that year. This effort failed, but the co-operation of the United States was obtained, and on the 8th of February the Foreign Secretary was able to announce, in a council of ministers, that the Government of the United States had agreed to the proposition of France for an International Monetary Conference to consider the question of a more general adoption of the double standard of gold and silver. Invitations would be addressed to the other powers, and the question then was whether it should be in the name of France alone or France and the United States jointly. Subsequently, early in March, a joint note of the two Governments was addressed in identical terms to their ministers in other countries, to be by them communicated to the several governments to which they were accredited. The note was as follows:

The Government of the Republic of France and the Government of the United States, having exchanged views upon the subject of a conference between the powers principally interested in the question of establishing internationally the use of gold and silver as bimetallic money and securing fixity of relative value between those metals, and finding themselves in accord as to the usefulness and importance of such a conference, and as to the time and place at which the same should be held, have the honor now to invite the Govern

ments of

to take part in a conference by such delegates as each government may appoint, to be held at Paris on Tuesday, the 19th of April next, to consider and adopt for presentation to the governments so represented for their acceptance a plan and system for the establishment by international convention of the use of gold and silver as bi-metallic money at a

fixed relative value between those two metals.

Messrs. William M. Evarts, Allen G. Thurman, and Timothy O. Howe were promptly appointed as delegates on behalf of the United States, and Mr. S. Dana Horton was subsequently added. The French Government appointed M. Magnin, the Minister of Finance; M. Dumas, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, and President of the Mint Commission;

M. Denomandie, Senator and head of the Bank of France; and M. Cernuschi, the well-known advocate of the bi-metallic standard. Germany accepted the invitation, with the reservation that it would not be bound by any decisions of the conference, and selected Baron Thielmann as its delegate. Austro-Hungary named three delegates: Count Kuefstein, Councilor of Legation; Ministerial Councilor Nibauer; and Herr Hegudus, of the Reichsrath. Their instructions indicated a leaning toward bi-metallism, but practically required them to hold a neutral position. There was much discussion in Great Britain regarding the propriety of sending representatives. There were memorials in favor of appointing delegates addressed to the Government by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, the merchants and bankers of London, and some others, and remonstrances against it from Manchester and other quarters. The Government assumed that the terms of the invitation were such that it could not be accepted without committing those participating in the conference to a support of its conclusions. On the 7th of April Sir Charles Dilke, in the House of Commons, stated that England could not consent to discuss the principle of bi-metallisin, and had declined to take part in the conference; but the Indian Government would send a delegate, who would not, however, participate in the discussion. The other colonies might also be represented.

When the conference met, on the 19th of April, fourteen governments were represented; viz., those of France, the United States, Germany, Austro-Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Russia, Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Greece. Several of them had but one delegate. Sir Louis Mallet and Lord Reay, the delegates for India, had not arrived, and it was understood that Sir A. T. Galt would appear in the interest of Canada, and that Mr. C. W. Fremantle, deputy-master of the British Mint, would be present during some part of the proceedings. The delegates were welcomed by M. Barthélemy St.-Hilaire, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, who said that the object of the conference was to establish a normal monetary standard instead of the shattered equilibrium of the past, and to consider the best means for preventing a recurrence of the disastrous crises. He concluded by declaring that, if the conference did not achieve immediate success, it would, at least, have raised controversies which are indispensable to the discovery of truth, and established principles which will bear fruit in the future. On motion of Mr. Evarts, delegate from the United States, M. Magnin, French Minister of Finances, was elected president of the conference. M. Magnin reviewed the different phases of the question, and showed the inconveniences which the system established in 1867 of a gold standard, with silver as a transitory companion, had brought about in Germany.

He dwelt on the recommendation in favor of bi-metallism by the committee of the United States Congress in 1876. He explained the causes of the non-success of the Monetary Conference in 1878. As regarded the objects of the present conference, it was indispensable, in order that silver shall regain its former value, that it should again be freely coined side by side with gold. A committee of fifteen, one for each state represented, was appointed to draw up and report a list of questions to be considered. Dr. J. C. Kern, of Switzerland, was made president of the committee as the senior member, and Herr Vrolik, of Holland, was chosen to act as chairman at its sittings. There were several meetings of the conference and of the committees prior to May 5th, when the following questions, prepared by the Dutch delegate, M. Vrolik, were submitted as the report of the committee:

1. Have the diminution and great oscillations in the value of silver, which have occurred especially in lato years, been injurious to commerce and consequently to the general prosperity? Is it desirable for the ratio of value between the two metals to have a great fixity? 2. Are the phenomena indicated in the first part of the foregoing question to be attributed to the increase in the production of silver or to legislative measures? 3. Is it probable or not that if a large group of pieces of both metals, having full paying power in a states accords free and unlimited coinage of legal uniform proportion for the gold and silver contained in the monetary unit of each metal, a stability, if not absolute, at least very substantial, will be obtained in the relative value of those metals?

atively, what measures should be taken for reducing 4. In case the preceding question is answered affirmto a minimum the oscillations in the ratio of value between the two metals? For instance, would it be desirable to impose on chartered banks of issue the gold and silver offered them by the public? Could obligation of always accepting at a fixed price ingots of the public be insured the same privileges in countries where there is no chartered bank of issue? Should the mintage be gratuitous, or at least uniform,

in all countries for the two metals? Should there be national commerce in the preceding metals? an understanding to leave free of all obstruction inter

5. In adopting bi-metallism, what should be the ratio between the weight of pure gold and silver contained in the monetary units?

After this programme had been submitted to the conference, Baron Thielmann made the following statement on behalf of the German Government: "We admit unreservedly that a rehabilitation of silver is to be desired, and that it might be realized by the establishment of the free coinage of silver in a certain number of the most populous states represented in this conference, which, with that view, would adopt as a basis a fixed ratio between gold and silver. Nevertheless, Germany, whose monetary reform is so far advanced, and whose general monetary situation does not seem to demand so radical a change of system, does not see that it is possible to consent, so far as she is concerned, to the free coinage of silver. Her delegates can not, therefore, subscribe to such a proposal. The Imperial Government is, however, quite disposed to second, so far as it is able, the efforts of other powers, which might

be disposed to unite to bring about a rehabilitation of silver by means of the free coinage of that metal. For that purpose, and to guarantee those powers against the influx of German silver, which they appear to apprehend, the Imperial Government would impose on itself the following restrictions: During a period of some years it would abstain from all sales of silver, and during another period of a certain duration it would engage to sell annually only a limited quantity, so small that the general market would not be encumbered by it. The duration of those periods, and the quantity of silver to be sold annually during the second, would form the subject of subsequent negotiations."

The delegates for India, who appeared at this stage of the proceedings, acted under the following instructions: "You will explain that, in sending a delegate to the conference, the Government of India must not be held to commit itself to the adoption of the principle of the bi-metallic system in India, and that you are not authorized, without further instructions, to vote on any question raised at the conference. You will, however, add that, while the Secretary of State in Council is unwilling to encourage an expectation of any material change at present in the monetary policy of India, he would be ready to consider any measures which might be suggested for adoption in India as being calculated to promote the re-establishment of the value of silver. It is desirable that you should, so far as possible, avoid giving any pledge on the part of the Government of India which would in any manner interfere with its future liberty of action; but in the event of your being pressed on the subject, or your seeing reason to think it desirable that such a declaration should be made, you are authorized to agree, on the part of the Government of India, that for some definite term of years, not exceeding ten, it will undertake not to depart in any direction calculated to lower the value of silver, from the existing practice of coining silver freely in the Indian mints as legal tender throughout the Indian dominions of her Majesty. Such a declaration must, however, be conditional on the acceptance by a number of the principal states of an agreement binding them, in some manner or other, to open their mints for a similar time to the coinage of silver as full legal tender in the proportion of 15 of silver to 1 of gold, and the engagement on the part of India would be obligatory only so long as that agreement remained in force."

Mr. Fremantle and Sir A. T. Galt, as well as Sir L. Mallet and Lord Reay, were present after the plenary sitting of May 5th, but stated that the English Government was thus represented out of deference to the inviting powers, and that its delegates, while willing to furnish information, would not vote on any proposition. The discussions were kept up from time to time until May 19th, representa

tives of various governments explaining their position. The German delegate stated that Germany adhered to the single gold standard, but was prepared to suspend its sales of silver, and might increase the number of marks in circulation, and possibly increase the amount of silver per mark, and withdraw the five-mark gold-piece. The delegates of Russia, Norway and Sweden, Switzerland, and Greece, spoke with reservation in regard to the acceptance of the bi-metallic standard. The Spanish delegate proposed an adjournment, to secure fuller instructions, and reserved entire freedom of action. On the 7th of May Mr. Piersen, of Holland, made a speech advocating bi-metallism, and M. Pirmez, of Belgium, replied. M. SeismitDoda, the leading delegate of Italy, declared in the course of the proceedings that Italy was there "to sustain the principle of bi-metallism." On another occasion he thought the conference" would not know how to separate without having voted a motion affirming the necessity of doing something in the interest of the rehabilitation of silver, with the proportion of 1 to 154." It was noted, however, as a significant circumstance that, in passing the act for the resumption of specie payments, the Italian Chamber had declared that "it can not be obligatory on private individuals to receive silver money which does not bear the mintmark of the country." This was taken as an indication of a disposition to be free from the stipulations on which the Latin Union is based, one of which recognizes the international character of the money coined by its members. Among the propositions advanced was one by the German delegate, suggesting that if the United States, France, Italy, and Holland agreed to an unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 15 to 1 of gold, the other states might observe certain conditions, such as not coining gold in denominations lower than ten francs, and improving the fineness of silver coins. On the 19th of May the following order of the day was adopted: "After having heard the general discussion and examining the monetary situation from an international point of view, and having regard to declarations made in the name of certain governments, and in consideration of the fact that several delegates desire a temporary suspension of the sittings in order to refer to their governments, the conference decides to adjourn until June 30th."

Before the adjournment, Sir Louis Mallet made a statement of the views of the Indian Government. It would engage, he said, not to change the system of free mintage of silver during a period to be settled by ulterior negotiations, provided a certain number of the principal states undertook to maintain such free mintage for the same period at the ratio of 15. He claimed for India that she had done more than any other country to prevent an aggravation of the depreciation of silver; for the Calcutta and Bombay mints coined silver in 1879, the date of the last return, to the amount

of seven millions. India, moreover, was in no way responsible for the depreciation, but had been a victim of the action of others, so that she not only had a right to offer to co-operate in efforts for maintaining the value of silver, but had in a certain sense a right to call for such efforts. Reviewing the monetary conferences of 1869 and 1878, Sir Louis remarked that the latter, while reversing the decision of the former against silver, left it to the discretion of each state to use either metal or both; but a better solution was required. The loss by exchange of the Indian Treasury last year was estimated at two millions; the greater part of the remittances to England was obligatory and permanent, and an increase of the revenue was difficult; the land-tax being assessed in perpetuity in Bengal, and for terms of years elsewhere. He dwelt on the inconveniences to commerce of an uncertainty in the value of the rupee, and urged that a stable international money was imperatively preferred, and insisted that if law was entitled to impose a single metal as money, it had an equal right to impose two metals at a fixed ratio. The impossibility of England joining in the scheme should not be considered fatal to its success; while the failure of the conference might involve, not the maintenance of the status quo, but the extension of the gold standard. If the fall of silver continued, India, on the discovery of fresh gold-mines or some other opportunity, might reluctantly enter into the struggle for the possession of the only metal having a firm international basis. The difficulties on the side of England and Germany must have been foreseen, and he exhorted France and America not to be thereby deterred from persevering in an effort which, like all great reforms, might require time, patience, courage, and faith.

Before the separation of the delegates, they were presented with samples of a five-franc piece composed of gold and silver in equal proportions, and struck by the French Government as a suggestion in regard to international bi-metallic money.

The conference reassembled on the 30th of June, but after a brief sitting adjourned to July 2d. The Austrian delegates returned, with fresh instructions to maintain a friendly attitude in regard to bi-metallism, but not to depart from the reserve previously displayed. M. Thorrner, the Russian delegate, had made a report to his government, in which he said that Russia should prepare for the resumption of specie payments by permitting the circulation of silver and gold at a premium, and that, when resumption becomes possible, silver should be the standard, gold being permitted to circulate at a premium corresponding with its market price in silver. The premium should be fixed from time to time by the Government, and not follow the minor course of fluctuations. The Italian delegate reported that his government would enter the proposed union for sustaining the double standard, on

condition of coining silver to a restricted amount. In view of the attitude of various other governments, Mr. Thurman, of the United States delegation, expressed the conviction that the offers of England and Germany would not warrant the United States in allowing the coinage of silver. The United States, he said, did not insist on immediate and unqualified bimetallism, but were ready to accept approaches thereto, believing it would eventually prevail; but they could not incur the risk of altering the standard through the conflicting or inharmonious action of other states.

The position of the Bank of England was stated by Mr. Fremantle. In reply to an inquiry from Lord Granville as to the terms on which the bank would be willing to resort to the practice of holding silver bullion in the issue department, it had been explained that the possibility of doing so "depended entirely on the return of the mints of other countries to such rules as would insure the certainty of the conversion of silver into gold and gold into silver. These rules need not be identical with those formerly in force." It was needful, however, that they should be such as would secure the facility of exchange, indispensable to the resumption of silver purchases by the Bank of England, whose responsibilities are contracted in gold.

The general position of the British Government was stated in the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone in the following terms:

No engagement has been made by the Government, and no authority conferred on the British representative at the Paris Conference, to alter the limits now imposed by law upon the use of silver as currency. The Government were informed that an agreement might be possible between the silver-using powers, if, among other matters, the Bank of England would hold in the issue department part of its reserve in silver; and they communicated their information to the bank, inviting the Bank Court to state its opinion upon such an exercise of the discretion intrusted to the bank by the act of 1844. The Court replied that it saw no reason why an assurance should not be conveyed to the Monetary Conference if the Treasury thought it desirable; that the bank, agreeably with the act of 1844, will be always open to the purchase of silver, provided that mints of other countries return to such rules as would insure the conversion of gold into silver and silver into gold. The Treasury, noting the statement of the bank that it saw no danger to the principle of the act of 1844 in such an assurance, conference to be instructed to convey the assurance caused the delegate of the United Kingdom at the to the conference. Mr. Fremantle informed the conference accordingly, at its meeting of yesterday [July 8th]. The Secretary of State for India will state whether he has authorized the delegate of India to There is convey any assurance to the conference. no intention on the part of the Government to alter the present currency law.

Lord Hartington made the following statement:

The only engagement which the representatives of the Government of India at the Monetary Conference have been authorized to make on behalf of that Government is that for a definite term of years it will undertake not to depart in any direction calculated to lower the value of silver from the existing practice

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