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 an understanding to leave free of all obstruction international commerce in the preceding metals?

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 fol lowing 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 15." 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 mint. mark 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 among other matters, the Bank of England would might be possible between the silver-using powers, if, 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 the bank by the act of 1844. The Court replied that upon such an exercise of the discretion intrusted to 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, caused the delerate of the United Kingdom at the conference to be instructed to convey the assurance 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 no intention on the part of the Government to alter the present currency law.

convey any assurance to the conference.

There is

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

of coining silver freely in the Indian mints as legal tender throughout the Indian dominions of her Majesty. Such a declaration, however, must be conditional on the acceptance by a number of the principal states of an agreement binding them in some manner to open their mints for a similar term to the coinage of silver as full legal tender in the proportion of 154 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.

Sittings were held on the 4th, 6th, and 8th of July, and then an adjournment was taken to April 12, 1882. A declaration, consisting of four clauses, was made to the conference by the French and American delegates by way of formulating the basis for future proceedings. The first three clauses were declaratory of the importance of a fixed relation in value between gold and silver, of the opinion that a powerful combination of states might, by agreement among themselves, maintain such a relation, and that the proportion of 15 to 1 was the desirable one to adopt. The fourth clause was as follows: "Without considering the effect which might be produced by a lesser combination of states, a combination which should include England, France, Germany, and the United States, with the concurrence of other states both in Europe and on the American Continent, which this combination would insure, would be adequate to produce and maintain throughout the commercial world the relation between the two metals that such a combination should adopt."

The proposition for adjourning was put upon the ground that there is reason for believing that an understanding might be established between the states which have taken part in the conference, that the monetary situation of several states may call for the intervention of legislation, and may give rise to diplomatic negotiations."

Ex-Senator Howe returned to the United States in July. He explained the attitude of the different governments represented at the conference as follows:

The Belgian representative was there as a strong monometallist; so also were the representatives of Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland." The commissioners representing Russia, Austria, Italy, and Spain inclined strongly to bi-métallism. The attitude of Great Britain was the principal obstacle we had to contend with. Her representatives were in favor of the double standard, but were prohibited from committing the nation to it. The ministry opposed bi-metallism, and they did it, not because they do not favor the double standard, or because they want to keep silver out of the coinage, but because they have other important business before them, and feel that they can put the coinage question off to some future day. The matter, however, has been the subject of discussion in financial and commercial circles in Great Britain, and a strong sentiment has been found in favor of bimetallism. With regard to Germany, her representatives pointed to the action taken by her in 1873 in adopting the single gold standard, and said they did not see any necessity for impeaching the propriety of that move. Still, they are not opposed to silver, and are only waiting for England. If the latter country comes to adopt the double standard, they will join with her willingly and gladly.

Mr. Evarts returned in September, and, in answer to inquiries regarding the results of the conference, said

that a great advance had been made as compared with the results accomplished by the conference of 1878. In that assemblage the great powers were very reserved, or were wholly unrepresented. Now the principal countries of Europe, including Germany and Great Britain, both of which held aloof in 1878, are generally agreed upon the advisability of the adoption of a bi-metallic standard of commercial values. So far as India was concerned, which is the great silver and considerable active participation shown by the interest of England, there was considerable freedom delegates this year. The position of the United States is well known and understood now in Europe that our interest is solely in view of our actual and expected participation in the commerce of the world. We desire that the money of international commerce shall be upon the basis which leaves commerce in such a position that it shall not be embarrassed by the two bases-silver and gold-interfering with one another. In other words, we desire to make the two metals international money.

In regard to the adjournment, Mr. Evarts said:

In adjourning to another time instead of terminating our deliberations we generally agreed in feeling that a stage had been reached in exciting the attention debating the question which, in the interval, might of the different nations, furnishing them the means of be occupied by them either in direct diplomatic correspondence on the subject or in such discussion in Congress or in Parliament, or in general channels of public opinion, as each nation should think advisable and useful. We also thought it would be felt and understood everywhere that so great a question and transaction as the establishment of an international money, of both metals, was a task that should not, and could not, be completed in any brief consideration of the subject.

The coinage of silver dollars was continued during the year in the United States in accordance with the provisions of the law of 1878, the total number issued being 27,637,955, or about 2,300,000 per month. The Director of the Mint, in his annual report, makes the following suggestions in regard to a continuance of this coinage, in view of the action of the Monetary Conference:

The International Monetary Conference which met at Paris in April last instructively discussed the subject of a common ratio in the coinage of gold and silver, but no practical conclusion was reached. Delegates from several European countries gave little encouragement for the expectation of any effective aid from their governments in the effort to restore silver to its former place in the monetary circulation. The hope, however, seems to have been entertained that further deliberation, and a consideration of the inevitable complications and disturbances to commercial exchanges between Asiatic countries and the Western world, to be feared from the exclusion of silver from coinage, will enlist the co-operation of those nations in this, possibly the final, effort to retain silver conjointly with gold as a measure of values. In view, however, of the failure of the conference to agree upon any practical measure, and while awaiting its future action, it is a question for our serious and early consideration whether it is not desirable to suspend the further coinage of silver until, by international agreement and effective legislation, the unlimited coinage of silver and gold at a common fixed ratio shall have been authorized by the principal commercial nations of Europe and America. The United States has done

its part toward retaining silver as a monetary agent for measuring and exchanging values. For three years it has appropriated to coinage purposes one third of the world's production of silver, and maintained its average bullion price nearly to the average of 1878. As was said in my first report, "should the $650,000,000 of silver coin, now full legal tender in Europe, be demonetized, the United States could not, single-handed among cominercial nations, with no European co-operation or allies, sustain the value of silver from the inevitable fall. With that danger menacing us, we can not, without serious embarrassment, continue such coinage unless other commercial nations will agree upon the general use of silver as well as gold. But should such international agreement be secured, neither our ratio of comparative valuation nor even one based upon the present exchangeable value of gold and silver will probably be adopted. The ratio of 15 to 1, already approved and in use among the nations composing the Latin Union, would doubtless be chosen. This would, if the coinage of silver as well as gold at all the mints of the world were made free, as bi-metallism implies, cause the voluntary withdrawal from circulation of the standard dollars, and their recoinage. In such case the further coinage of silver dollars of the present weight, unless needed for circulation, is a useless expenditure."

The Secretary of the Treasury, in his annual report, and the President in his message, also recommended a suspension of the coinage of silver dollars, and a future restriction, not to an arbitrary limit, but to a limit determined by the actual demand for circulation. They also recommended a cessation of the issue of silver certificates, and advocated a policy in future in regard to bi-metallism dependent on a substantial concert of commercial nations.

BLANQUI, AUGUSTE, a French Democrat and Socialist, died January 2d, at the age of seventy-six. Without ever having formulated any definite objects to which his extraordinary political activity was directed, he has appeared in the character of a leader in every revolutionary movement of the century. When a student in Paris, his intellectual gifts were widely remarked. He commenced life as a private tutor. A mutual attachment sprang up between him and his second pupil, the daughter of a Paris banker, which was concealed for years, and then resulted in their marriage. After seven years of happy wedded life, Blanqui embarked in his career of a political conspirator. His condemnation to lifelong imprisonment so wrought upon his wife's mind that she died within a year. Since then Blanqui has passed thirty-seven years of his life in prison. He founded numerous secret societies, and was the chief organizer of nearly every democratic outbreak. Lamartine says that after the Revolution of 1848 he invited Blanqui to forsake destructive criticism, and devote his talents to the diplomatic service of his country, offering him a foreign mission. Blanqui was small and insignificant in appearance. He lived like an ascetic, using no wine or coffee, eating vegetable food only, dispensing with fire in all weathers, and leaving his chamber-windows always open. Though the most active instigator of violent uprisings in VOL. XXI.-5 A

France, he had a sentimental horror of bloodshed; and though always foremost in revolutionary and socialistic disturbances, he frequently expressed the conviction that strong government was necessary to prevent anarchy, and that the economic problem could not be solved perhaps in centuries. The Communards of Paris converted the funeral of Blanqui into a celebration of the amnesty.

BLUNTSCHLI, Professor JEAN GASPARD, jurist and writer on international law, born at Zürich in March, 1808, died October 21st. He was educated for the law in his own country, and afterward went to Germany, where he work on "Succession according to the Roman was a pupil of Savigny and Niebuhr. His Law" gained him the doctor's degree at Berlin. Upon his return to Switzerland, he engaged actively in the political conflicts of the time, and contributed frequently to the Liberal press. He became a member of the State Council, and was a member of the Ministry before the return of the Conservatives to power. In 1838 he published the "Political and Juridical History of Zürich." He assisted the brothers Grimm in their researches into German antiquities, and wrote several works on tional history. His work on "General Political Law" (Munich, 1850) established his reputation as an historian and jurist. When the University of Zürich was founded, in 1833, Bluntschli was appointed a titular professor. In 1861 he went to Heidelberg as Professor of Public Law. In recent years he has published several works on the history and theory of law, which are studied with great attention in Europe. In the early part of 1881 he was provoked into an amicable controversy with General von Moltke by the latter's strictures on the reform in the laws of war proposed by the Institut de Droit International, and his defense of war as an agency in higher civilization.

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BRAHMO SOMAJ, THE. The division in the Brahmo Somaj of India, which took place in 1878 (an account of which is given in the "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1879, article BRAHMO SOMAJ), has been made wider in consequence of a new departure that the wing of the church of which Keshub Chunder Sen is regarded as the leader has taken. The new movement assumed a definite form at the close of the celebration of the fifty-first anniversary of the Brahmo Somaj, when Mr. Sen's party assumed the name of the "Church of the New Dispensation," and the "Flag of the New Dispensation," intended to denote the church militant developing into the church triumphant, was formally inaugurated, with the Arati ceremony, or the waving of lights and the chanting of hymns. The "New Dispensation" is believed by Mr. Sen to afford a scheme for effecting the unity and harmony of all other dispensations, all of which-Hindooism, Buddhism, Islamism, and Christianity-are connected as parts of the divine scheme, and really exhibit order and continuity where confusion