Russian Domestic

POPE LEO IN PONTIFICAL STATE.

The leading Russian topic of the month is the new manifesto of the Reform. Czar dealing with the governmental conditions of the empire, and promising various reforms. It has impressed the world at large. as a matter of profound significance. It would seem to us, however, chiefly an evidence of dismay and alarm in Russian governmental circles over the ever-increasing boldness with which the popular discontent is expressing itself. In this connection, our readers will find it well to give especial attention to an article on the political situation in Russia by a well-informed contributor published elsewhere in this number of the REVIEW. The edict has not been hopefully received by any of the discontented elements, whether Finns, Poles, Jews, or political Liberals. There is no reason to doubt the Czar's sincerity, but to translate the proposals into definite reforms will be no easy matter. In view of the Macedonian uneasiness, there has been especial activity in the Russian army, and the fervent religious sentiment of the Russians on behalf of persecuted Christians in European Turkey has

been made to do service in. diverting attention from the political discontent at home.

The

Undoubtedly, the situation in MaceMacedonian donia is a bad one, and the prospect Situation. of an earnest and honest enforcement by Turkey of the reforms demanded by Russia, Austria, and the other great powers is very remote indeed. The activity of revolutionary bands of Macedonians and Bulgarian adventurers gives the Turkish soldiers and military police the excuse for atrocities of the same sort as those perpetrated several years ago in Armenia. Nobody knows to what this situation will lead. The Sultan has promised to institute the desired reforms, and the associated ambassadors at Constantinople are endeavoring to see that his promises are kept. If Russia had not been interfered with by England and Germany twenty-five years ago, the present troubles would not have arisen.

The Pope's

On the third day of March, the Pope Twenty-five celebrated the twenty-fifth anniverYears. sary of his accession. Being only a year or two short of three score and ten when crowned, and of frail physique, he was not expected to fill the Papal office very long. Yet he bore the splendid ceremonies, last month, with the interest and vigor of a young man. There is a fair prospect that he may live to be a hundred years old. His pontificate has been marked by wondrous tact and breadth of mind. There seems, however, no prospect of reconciliation between the Vatican and the government of Italy, while the harshness of anti-clerical measures in France and some other Catholic countries has been painful to the venerable Leo. It is in the Protestant countries like the United States and Germany that the Roman Church finds least to give it trouble.

PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS.

February 17.-The Senate adopts the conference report on the army appropriation bill.... The House begins consideration of the naval appropriation bill.

February 18.-The Senate discusses the question of closure....The House sends the army appropriation bill back to conference.

February 19.-The Senate, in executive session, considers the Panama Canal treaty....The House passes the naval appropriation bill, with an amendment authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to expend $500,000 for submarine torpedo boats.

February 20.-The House passes the fortifications appropriation bill, and adopts conference reports on the bill for the protection of Presidents and the legislative appropriation bill.

HON. CHESTER I. LONG.

(The new Senator from Kansas.)

February 27.-The Senate passes the naval and Military Academy appropriation bills....The House sends four appropriation bills to conference.

February 28.-The Senate passes the fortifications appropriation and immigration bills, and debates the Aldrich banking bill.... The House passes the omnibus public buildings bill.

March 1.-The House adopts the report on the District of Columbia appropriation bill.

March 2.-The Senate passes the general deficiency appropriation bill.

March 3.-Agreements are finally reached between the Senate and the House on all appropriation bills.

March 4.-All the appropriation bills having been passed and signed by President Roosevelt, the Fiftyseventh Congress comes to an end.

SPECIAL SESSION OF THE SENATE.

March 5.-The Senate meets in special session and receives a message from President Roosevelt urging the ratification of the Cuban reciprocity and Panama Canal treaties; in executive session, the pending treaties are referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

March 9-10.-The Panama Canal treaty is favorably reported by the Committee on Foreign Relations and discussed in executive session.

March 11.-Extradition treaties with Mexico and Guatemala are ratified.

March 12.-The Cuban reciprocity treaty is favorably reported by the Committee on Foreign Relations, with amendments.

March 13-14.-Mr. Morgan (Dem., Ala.) and Mr. Spooner (Rep., Wis.) speak on the Panama Canal treaty, the former assailing and the latter defending the title of the Panama Canal Company.

March 17.-The Senate, by a vote of 73 to 5, ratifies the Panama Canal treaty without amendment.

March 19.-The Senate, by a vote of 50 to 16, ratifies the Cuban reciprocity treaty, with amendments providing that there shall be reciprocity in sugar with no other country than Cuba and requiring the approval of the House of Representatives. The special session of the Senate then comes to an end.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT-AMERICAN.

February 17.-John Weaver (Rep.) is elected mayor of Philadelphia....In the Pittsburg (Pa.) municipal election, W. B. Hays, a Republican, nominated for mayor by the Citizens' party and indorsed by the Democrats, is elected by about 8,000 majority....Governor Hunt appoints Ramon Latimer mayor of San Juan, Porto Rico.

February 18.-George B. Cortelyou takes the oath of office as Secretary of Commerce and Labor; he is succeeded by William Loeb, Jr., as secretary to the President....Associate Justice Shiras resigns as a member of the United States Supreme Court.

February 19.-President Roosevelt nominates William R. Day, of Ohio, to be an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.

February 20.-President Roosevelt signs the Elkins anti-rebate bill.

February 21.-The Oregon Legislature, on the fortythird ballot, chooses Charles W. Fulton (Rep.) United States Senator:

February 23.-The United States Supreme Court decides that Congress has the right to prohibit the sending of lottery tickets from one State to another, under the power to regulate interstate commerce.

February 25.-Melville E. Ingalls, president of the "Big Four" Railroad, accepts the nomination of the Democratic and Citizens' parties for mayor of Cincinnati.

February 28.-The last bonds of the State of Missouri (for $487,000) are paid.

March 2.-Governor Jennings, of Florida, appoints S. R. Mallory (Dem.) United States Senator to succeed himself....President Roosevelt calls an extra session of the Senate to meet on March 5...." Union" and "Regular" Republican members of the Delaware Legislature combine to elect J. Frank Allee (Union Rep.) for the long term in the United States Senate, and Dr. L. H. Ball (Regular Rep.) for the short term.

March 7.-Chicago Republicans nominate Graeme Stewart for mayor (see page 434).

March 10.-Governor Garvin, of Rhode Island, in a special message to the State Senate, charges wholesale bribery in connection with the election of members of the lower house .... The proposed woman suffrage amendment in New Hampshire is decisively defeated by popular vote.

March 12.-President Roosevelt appoints a commission to report on the organization, needs, and condition of government work.

in the British House of Commons, the government being sustained by a vote of 261 to 145.

February 27.-The Portuguese cabinet resigns office. ....The budget committee of the German Reichstag makes reductions in the army estimates.

February 28.-In voting an oil tax, the French Chamber of Deputies incorporates a provision asking for the establishment of a government monopoly in petroleum....A new Portuguese cabinet is formed.

M. VON PLEHWE.

(Russian minister of the interior, appointed as head of the commission to carry out the reforms advocated by the Czar in his recent manifesto. See page 441.)

March 1.-José Batele Ordoñez is chosen President of Uruguay.

March 2.-A motion to disfranchise County Galway for the election of Colonel Lynch to Parliament is defeated in the British House of Commons....General Regalado hands over the presidency of Salvador to General Escalon.

March 4.-In the elections to the Japanese Parliament, 183 members of Marquis Ito's party, 92 Progressives, 14 Imperialists, and 74 Independents are chosen; the opposition numbers 275.... The French Chamber of Deputies votes an annual appropriation of $200,000 for increasing old-age pensions paid by the mining companies to miners and employees.

March 5.-The British army estimates for the year amount to £34,500,000 ($172,500,000).

March 6.-President-elect Bonilla, of Honduras, captures the fort and town of Ceiba.

March 9.-The British naval estimates provide for nearly $180,000,000.

March 11.-The British House of Commons, by a vote of 245 to 154, rejects an amendment to the army estimates providing for the reduction of the army by 27,000

men.

March 12.-The French Chamber of Deputies resumes debate on the enforcement of the associations law.... The Czar of Russia issues a manifesto promising to

grant freedom of worship to his subjects and to extend local self-government in the villages.... The Canadian Parliament is opened.

March 14.-A commission, headed by Minister von Plehwe, is appointed in Russia to carry out the reforms proposed in the Czar's manifesto.

March 15.-The new Swiss protective tariff is adopted by a referendum vote of 329,000 to 222,000.

March 17.-The decree for higher import duties in Colombia goes into effect.

March 18.-A parliamentary by-election in Sussex, England, results in a Liberal victory by a majority of 534, as against a Conservative majority at the preceding election of 2,500....The French Chamber of Deputies, by a vote of 300 to 257, sustains the government's refusal to permit the male congregations to teach throughout France.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

February 17.-A protocol providing for the settlement by a commission of claims of American citizens against Venezuela is signed at Washington.

February 18.-A Venezuelan court awards an American claimant $700,000 damages for annulment of a concession by the Venezuelan Government.

February 19.-The joint note of the European powers regarding Macedonian reforms is handed to the Russian ambassador at Constantinople, with instructions to deliver it to the Turkish Government.... Diplomatic relations between Germany and Venezuela are resumed.

February 23.-It is announced that the Sultan has agreed to the measures for reform in the Turkish administration of Macedonia proposed by the powers.... The Dominican Government agrees to pay the Ros claims presented by United States Minister Powell.

February 24.-President Roosevelt signs an agreement with Cuba by which the United States secures a naval station at Guantanamo and a coaling station at Bahia Honda.

February 25.-Russia issues a warning to the Slav states of eastern Europe not to try to change the status quo in the Balkan peninsula.

February 26.-The protocol for the settlement of Mexico's claims against Venezuela is signed at Washington. February 27.-A protocol providing for the settlement of the French claims against Venezuela is signed at Washington.

February 28.- Provision for the settlement of the claims of the Netherlands against Venezuela is made in a protocol signed at Washington.

March 3.-Ratifications of the Alaskan boundary treaty between the United States and Great Britain are exchanged at Washington.

March 7.-The Belgian protocol for the settlement of Venezuelan claims is signed at Washington.

March 10.-The Newfoundland legislature renews the French shore modus vivendi.

March 11.-The Cuban Senate, by a vote of 16 to 5, ratifies the treaty of reciprocity with the United States ....The Bolivian minister to the United States protests against the transfer to Brazil of the concession held by the Anglo-American syndicate in Acre.

March 17.-Venezuela pays over to the representative of Germany the first installment of the indemnity.... Great Britain announces the appointment of Lord

Alverstone, Chief Justice of England; Lieut.-Gov. Sir Louis Jette, of Quebec, and Judge Armour, of the Canadian Supreme Court, as members of the Alaskan boundary commission.

March 19.-It is announced that negotiations for a parcels-post convention are being conducted by the United States and Great Britain.

OTHER OCCURRENCES OF THE MONTH. February 20.-The twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of Leo XIII. to the Papacy is celebrated in Rome. February 21.-The corner-stone of the Army War College, at Washington, is laid by President Roosevelt.

February 24.-A violent eruption of the Colima volcano, in Mexico, is preceded by earthquake shocks in the vicinity.

February 25.-Colonial Secretary Chamberlain sails from Cape Town for England.

February 27.-The structural iron workers of the Pittsburg (Pa.) district go on strike.

March 3.-The twenty-fifth anniversary of the coronation of Pope Leo XIII. is celebrated in Rome.

March 10.-The stockholders of the Pennsylvania Railroad authorize an increase of $150,000,000 in the capital stock of the company.

March 18.-The Anthracite Coal Strike Commission submits its report to President Roosevelt (see page 460). March 20.-The Mississippi River reaches the greatest height ever known at New Orleans, 19.8 feet.

OBITUARY.

February 17.-Joseph Parry, the Welsh composer, 62. ....Charles Theodore Russell, chairman of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission, 53.

February 18.-Prince Komatsu, of Japan, 55....Lewis Sylvester Hough, lawyer and author, 82....Dr. M. Mielzinger, acting president of the Hebrew Union College, at Cincinnati.

February 20.-Rev. Hon. Arthur Temple Lyttleton, Bishop of Southampton, 51....Chevalier Karl Scherzer, the Austrian traveler, 82.

February 24.-Dr. George Birkbeck Hill, the English author, 68.... Col. Sir Terence O'Brien, late governor of Newfoundland, 72.... E. Ellery Anderson, a prominent New York lawyer and reform politician, 69.

February 25.-John Forbes-Robertson, the English art critic and journalist, 81.

February 26.-Richard Jordan Gatling, inventor of the Gatling gun, 84....Conrad N. Jordan, Assistant Treasurer of the United States, 73.

February 27.-Ex-Congressman Rodney Wallace, of Massachusetts, 80.

February 28. - Maj.-Gen. William Farrar Smith ("Baldy" Smith), a corps commander in the Civil War, 80....Rear-Admiral William Harkness, U.S.N., retired, an eminent astronomer, 65....Dr. Theodore Gaillard Thomas, a well-known New York physician, 72.

March 1.-Ex-Congressman Jehu Baker, of Illinois, 80. March 3.-Baron Rieger, Bohemian statesman and leader of Czech movement, 84....Dr. Rafael Zaldivar, former president of Salvador.... Richard M. Upjohn,

architect of the Connecticut State Capitol, 75.... Dr. Charles H. Ohr, of Maryland, said to have been the oldest past grand master Mason in the world, 93.

March 4.-Joseph Henry Shorthouse, author of "John Inglesant," 69.... Rev. Maurice Ronayne, S. J., author of Catholic books, 75.

March 6.-Gaston Paris, member of the French Academy and director of the College of France, 64.... ExCongressman William H. Ruston, of Massachusetts, 55. March 7.-Rev. William B. Chamberlain, director of music in Chicago Theological Seminary, 56.

March 10.-Andrew Carpenter Wheeler ("Nym Crinkle"), author and critic, 68.

March 11.-Samuel K. Dow, formerly a well-known Chicago lawyer, 75....Frithjof Smith - Hald, a distinguished Norwegian painter, 54.

March 12.-Very Rev. George Granville Bradley, Dean of Westminster, 83.

March 14.-Ex-Congressman William E. Simonds, of Connecticut, 60.

March 16.- Ex-Congressman John W. Candler, of Massachusetts, 75.

March 17.-William S. Caine, M.P., 60....Vice- Admiral Tyrtoff, Russian minister of marine.

March 18.-Maj.-Gen. Schuyler Hamilton, a veteran of the Mexican and Civil wars, 82.

March 20.-Charles Godfrey Leland ("Hans Breitmann"), American humorist, 78....Justice Charles V. Bardeen, of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, 53....Justice Samuel H. Terral, of the Mississippi Supreme Court, 68.... William P. Wood, chief of the United States Secret Service under President Lincoln, 80.