moved as an amendment that the House "disapproves the conduct of her Majesty's Government, which has resulted in the war with Afghanistan." In the ensuing debate, Lord Hartington admitted the right of the Government to declare war, but maintained that never before had there been a war begun the origin and policy of which had been so studiously concealed from Parliament. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied, reviewing the case, and defending the course of the Government; after which the division was taken, December 13th, and resulted-for the vote of censure, 227; against it, 328; showing a majority for the Government of 101. On the motion for applying the Indian revenues to the expenses of the war, Mr. Fawcett moved an amendment that it would be unjust to make such an application. On the division, Mr. Fawcett's amendment was negatived by a majority of 110 (235 to 125), and the original motion was agreed to. The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave notice of an intention to propose a vote for the assistance of the sufferers in the Rhodope districts of Eastern Roumelia. Mr. Anderson, of Glasgow, then gave notice of a resolution that, in view of the distress prevailing in the country, it was inexpedient to devote the money of the tax-payers_to_such a purpose. The Chancellor of the Exchequer afterward announced that he had abandoned the purpose of making his motion. Both Houses adjourned, December 17th, to February 13, 1879. The changes in the composition of the House of Commons in 1878 were more numerous than in any previous year during the existence of the present Parliament. In 1876 thirty-two vacancies occurred, involving fresh elections; in 1877, the number of vacancies was seventeen; in 1878 it rose to forty. The changes during 1878 affected the seats of twenty-three Conservatives and seventeen Liberals; but the returns so curiously balanced each other that the relative strength of the parties in the House at the end of the year was precisely what it had been twelve months before. During the whole five years of the present Parliament, ending with the close of 1878, the Conservatives won eleven seats from the Liberals, and the Liberals fifteen from the Conservatives.

The Queen notified Parliament on the 22d of July of the approaching marriage of the Duke of Connaught with the Princess Louise of Prussia, and requested the provision of a suitable establishment for the couple. While the subject was under discussion, Sir Charles Dilke moved for a suspension of the subject until a return could be procured of similar applications on behalf of members of the royal family since the accession of William III. He held that there was no precedent for the present application earlier than the present reign. The Chancellor of the Exchequer replied that, by the Queen's abandonment of the Crown lands and her acceptance of a fixed civil list,

there had been something in the nature of a bargain between the country and the sovereign. The bargain was one by which the country had profited, the value of the Crown lands having considerably increased during the last forty years. The provision asked for was granted.

The Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of HesseDarmstadt, second daughter of the Queen, died at Darmstadt, December 14th.

A decree was published in the London "Gazette" of January 3d creating a new order to be conferred upon women only, called the Imperial Order of the Crown of India. It bestowed certain insignia and decorations upon a number of English and native ladies, among whom are all the Princesses, the Maharanee or wife of the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh (a Copt by birth), seven great native ladies, and eighteen English ladies, wives of past and existing viceroys, governors, secretaries, and under-secretaries for India.

A great public meeting in favor of neutrality and the thorough independence of the freed provinces of Turkey was called to be held in Hyde Park, London, on the 25th of February. Distinguished Liberal members of Parliament were expected to address it. On the day of the meeting the place was taken possession of by a mob of the other party, who passed resolutions in favor of the Government, and otherwise interfered with the meeting. A part of the mob went to hoot before Mr. Gladstone's residence. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people were around the park, of whom 10,000 actively took part in the proceedings. An attempt was made to hold another demonstration in Hyde Park in favor of peace, on the 10th of March, when the meeting was disturbed by a mob, who again made offensive demonstrations before Mr. Gladstone's residence, and Mr. Gladstone and his wife, who were in the street, were obliged to seek the protection of the police.

The attention of the Irish public was excited by the murder of the Earl of Leitrim, one of the largest landholders in the country, who, with his coachman and clerk, was shot by concealed assassins while driving near his house on the 2d of April. The murder was generally ascribed to agrarian motives. The attention of Parliament was called to the subject on the 12th by Mr. O'Donnell in the House of Commons, whose remarks, considered offensive, led to a clearing of the galleries, and by Lord Oranmore and Browne in the House of Lords, on whose motion certain returns of crime were ordered. A meeting of the tenantry of the late Earl was held shortly after the murder, which adopted resolutions expressing abhorrence of the murder, protesting against charges which had been made against the character of the murdered man, and asking for an investigation of them.

In response to the intercession of the Government of the United States, expressed through its Minister, three Fenian prisoners,

Condon, Melady, and O'Meara, were in August released from the further operation of the sentence of penal servitude under which they had suffered for eleven years. It was stipulated that on their discharge they should not take part in any demonstration, and should not remain on British soil, though they were allowed to see their friends.

A resolution in favor of home rule in Ireland was moved in the House of Commons as an amendment to the address at the opening of the first session. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach said that the Government desired to remove every real grievance in Ireland, but could not possibly accept the undefined and undefinable scheme called home rule, especially since the Irish themselves were not united upon it. He then showed how freedom had increased in Ireland since the opening of the present Parliament. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 301 to 148. The dissensions in the Home Rule party led to its separation into two factions during the year.

on the 1st day of October, the last day of its business, its liabilities amounted to £12,403,000, while its assets were £7,212,000, and that the total loss, including the capital (£1,000,000), was £6,783,000. As the stockholders are under conditions of unlimited liability, the loss falls crushingly upon people of moderate means, many of whom had their all invested in the shares, and others of whom will have to give up all to pay their proportion. The auditors found that the loss had been occasioned by criminal mismanagement of the directors and officers of the bank, and these officers were arrested and committed for fraud. Subscriptions were opened for a fund for the relief of the poorer shareholders of the bank, which by the middle of December had reached the sum of £321,484, while £500,000 were wanted. This failure was followed by other failures, of which 150, involving liabilities of £25,000,000, occurring in Glasgow and the west of Scotland by the 20th of November, were traceable directly and indirectly to it. The West of England Bank, Bristol, failed December 7th, but its directors claimed that it was solvent. It was established in 1834, and had forty-two branches in South Wales and the west of England. The statement of the provisional liquidators of this bank showed that its liabilities amounted to £3,353,265, while its assets were estimated at £3,048,947, from which a deficiency of £304,318 was predicated. An order was granted later in the month for the compulsory winding up of the bank.

A strike took place in April among the operatives of the cotton-mills in Lancashire, which criginated in the adoption of a resolution by the employers to reduce the wages 10 per cent. The operatives endeavored to compromise the difference by offering to accept a reduction of 5 per cent., or to submit the matter to arbitration; but the masters would not agree to their propositions. A strike also occurred among the iron miners of Middlesborough and Stockton against the award of an arbitrator who decided that their wages should be reduced 7 per cent.. The excitement induced collisions between the strikers and the police in May, ending in riots in which considerable damage was done to property in Blackburn and the neighboring factory towns, and the military had to be called out. The masters adhered to their position, and the mass of the workingmen submitted to their terms by the middle of June.

The depression in trade became very keenly felt in the early part of October, when a number of notices of reductions of wages were given. Conferences of masters and laborers had no satisfactory result, the reductions were continued, and the troubles extended to the agricultural laborers, who became involved in strikes and lock-outs. The suffering among the laborers in Sheffield and other large manufacturing towns became by the close of the year a very painful and perplexing feature in the situation of the country.

The year was signalized by several distressing accidents. The training ship Eurydice, with 330 persons on board, was capsized off the Isle of Wight March 24th, by the pressure of a sudden squall taking place during a violent snow-storm, and nearly all of the crew and cadets were drowned. On the 31st of May the three German ironclads, the Grosser Kurfürst, the König Wilhelm, and the Preussen, were sailing together in the English Channel past Sandgate, when the König Wilhelm, changing her course to avoid a passing vessel, ran into the Grosser Kurfürst. The latter vessel sank within five minutes, and 284 of the officers and crew were drowned, while 216 were picked up. On the 3d of September the Princess Alice, an excursion steamer on the Thames, carrying 700 passengers, mostly families with mothers and children, was run into by the iron screw-collier Bywell Castle, and nearly 600 persons were drowned within five minutes, only about 100 being saved. The circumstances of this disaster were investigated by a coroner's jury and the Board of Trade. An explosion took place in the Prince of Wales Colliery, Abercarne, South Wales, September 11th, by which 286 men and boys lost their lives. Subscriptions were taken for the benefit of the families suffering from the last two disasters, which resulted in securing liberal funds for both purposes. On the 11th of October 37 persons were crushed or suffocated and several injured in the

The distress was considerably augmented by several great commercial failures, one of the first and most important of which was that of the Glasgow City Bank, October 1st. This institution had stood extremely high in the confidence of the public, its last dividend having been made at 12 per cent., and its shares on the day of failure having stood at 236; and it was a favorite institution for investment among the people of Scotland. The balance-sheet of the bank as examined by the auditors showed that

panic occasioned by the breaking out of a fire in the Colosseum Theatre in Liverpool. The German mail steamer Pomerania, from Hamburg to New York, was run into by the iron bark Moel Eilian, November 25th, and 58 of her passengers and crew were lost.

GREECE,* a kingdom, of southeastern Europe. Reigning King, George I., born December 24, 1845, second son of the reigning King of Denmark; elected King of the Hellenes by the National Assembly at Athens, March 18 (30), 1863; accepted the crown June 5, 1863; declared of age by a decree of the National Assembly, June 27, 1863; married October 27, 1867, to Olga, daughter of the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, born August 22, 1851. Their children are: Constantinos, Duke of Sparta, born August 2, 1868; George, born June 25, 1869; Alexandra, born August 30, 1870; Nicholas, born February 9, 1872; Maria, born March 3, 1876.

The area of the kingdom amounts to 19,353 square miles; the population, according to the census of 1870, to 1,457,894 persons.

The war excitement which had pervaded Greece during 1877 grew as it became apparent in January that the Porte intended to negotiate for peace. It finally led to a ministerial crisis, and on January 22d the Ministry resigned, and a new one was formed, composed as follows: President of the Council and Minister of the Interior, Kumunduros; Foreign Affairs and Public Worship, Delyannis; Marine, Pumbulis; Finance and Justice, Papamichalopulo; War, Sotfros Petmezas. The warlike demonstrations continued in all the principal cities, and on January 26th a conflict occurred between the troops and the populace in Athens. The Chamber in consequence held its sittings with closed doors. On January 31st the Chamber in a secret sitting passed a vote of confidence in the Ministry by 121 to 6; that is to say, it empowered the Government to take military measures against Turkey. M. Kumunduros indicated that his action would be the armed occupation of Thessaly, Epirus, and part of Macedonia, in order, as he said, to protect the Greeks of those provinces from the outrages of the Turks driven into them by the Russian advance. He said that, when outrages occurred previously, the Government sought the assistance of Europe, but Europe did nothing beyond making inquiries. This time Greece would take the matter into her own hands. In accordance with this declaration, the Greek army on February 3d crossed the frontier, but was recalled within a week upon the representations of the Powers. (See TURKEY.) But, though the Greek Government abandoned all hostile actions against the Turks, large numbers of volunteers crossed the border to assist

their countrymen in Turkey. In the beginning of March the Minister for Foreign Affairs addressed a circular to the Greek representatives at the courts of the signatory Powers, in which the Hellenic Government asked to be represented at the Congress, which was then spoken of. The Ministry resigned on July 1st, on account of military promotions having been made by the Minister of War contrary to the budget scheme settled by them. The King, however, refused to accept the resignation, declaring that the Cabinet possessed his confidence.

The recommendations made by the Berlin Congress as to the rectification of the Greek frontier (see EASTERN QUESTION) excited great hopes in Greece. The Greek Government in August addressed a note to the Powers, asking them to use their influence to bring about a settlement, and various propositions having that end in view were made, but nothing defi nite was arrived at. On October 14th the Chamber began a discussion on the past policy of the Government, which ended on the 18th in a vote of confidence of 69 to 63. On the 29th the Chamber rejected by a majority of four votes the bill introduced by the Government, providing for the calling out of the third and fourth classes of the military reserves. In consequence of this the Ministry tendered its resignation, which was accepted. A new Cabinet was formed by M. Tricupis, but resigned within a week, as they were defeated on a testvote in the Chamber. A new Ministry was then formed as follows: Kumunduros, President of the Council, Minister of the Interior and Justice; Bubulis, War and Navy; Augerinas, Public Instruction and Worship; Delyannis, Foreign Affairs and Finance. It was thought that this Ministry could not maintain itself, but M. Kumunduros brought about a compromise with the Opposition, by which a bill was passed increasing the army by 20,000 men. On the 18th of November a motion was accepted proposing the appointment of a committee of inquiry into abuses said to have been committed by the Minister of War who held office at the beginning of the year, in connection with supplying food and clothing to the army. The Government opposed the motion, but finally yielded, and the resolution was adopted unanimously.

An agreement of a very satisfactory character, which is intended to effect the conversion of the Greek stock of 1824-25, has been entered into between the Government and the representatives of the bondholders, and was ratified by the Chamber of Deputies in December. Under it the old bonds and coupons will be exchanged for new stock, upon which an annual payment of £75,000 to the bondholders will be secured. This sum will be guaranteed by the actual hypothecation of the stamp duties and the customs of Cephalonia, which together yield about £180,000 a year. The new stock will be redeemable in thirty-three years

by drawings at par. The interest, at 5 per cent., was to begin on January 1, 1879, and to be payable half-yearly.

According to the law for 1878, enacted in the latter part of 1877 by the Chamber, the Greek army is now composed of 28,000 men16,288 infantry, 4,044 light infantry, 2,608 gendarmes, 852 cavalry, 2,013 artillery, 1,107 sappers and miners, 300 men attached to the hospitals, and a number of officers and sergeants on special service. The annual expense for the maintenance of the army is estimated at 20,000,000 francs.

RUINS OF THE PROPYLEA, ATHENS.

After recalling its troops from Thessaly, the Government continued still to act under the recognition of the fact that the situation was critical, and actively continued its military and naval preparations. Orders were given for arms and ammunition sufficient for an army of 50,000 men, and arrangements were made to raise the Mobile National Guard to 140,000 men. The people sulkily accepted the news of the Government's acquiescence in the arrangement proposed by the great Powers for abstention from hostilities, and reliance on their good offices to see that justice was done the Greek peoples, but were evidently not content with it. The news that the British squadron had been refused admission to the Bosporus by the Porte created a new excitement in Athens, and the expectation which it aroused of a new political and military situation, in which Greece and England might be found on the same side, did much to reconcile those who had denounced the recall of the troops from Thessaly, and to keep within bounds the indignation with which the news of the massacres at the frontier was received. The excitement was renewed early in April on the occasion of the capture of the Thessalian insurgent position at Macrinitza, and the irrup; tion into Valo, in which several rayahs and

Europeans were murdered. Among the victims of this affair was Mr. Ogle, a correspondent of the London "Times," whose murder and mutilation were made subjects of action by the British Government. A reward was offered for the recovery of his body, and it was found in a mutilated, condition on Mount Pelion. Mr. Fawcett, who was sent to Valo to inquire into the occurrence, made a report on May 8th, in which he expressed the opinion that Mr. Ogle was killed by a gunshot or bayonet while retreating with the Greek insurgents, and that his head was afterward cut off by Turkish soldiers.

An angry feeling was caused in many circles throughout the country by the results of the Congress at Berlin, which had failed to secure to Greece any advantages proportioned to the expectations that had been raised. Every step of the negotiations in which the Government sought to have actually adjusted the rectification of boundaries which the treaty stipulated for, was watched with solicitude. The negotiations on the subject made very slow progress, and it was not till the 8th of August that the Turkish Government drew up its circular on the demand of the Greeks, and it was nearly three weeks later before the circular was published. The dispatch declared in the outset, in the most formal manner, that neither the Sultan nor his Government had ever had to deliberate on such a project as the proposed rectification of the Greek frontier, and that it was, for the first time called on to consider it when the project came to light within the Congress. Reviewing in its particulars the deImand made by the Greeks before the Berlin Congress, it said:

That demand consists in the annexation, pure and simple, of Epirus, Thessaly, and the isle of Crete, to the kingdom of Greece, and is justified, according to the Hellenic Ministry, by arguments and considcrations which may be thus summed up: "Greece aspires to unite under the same government all the countries inhabited by populations of Greek origin; but she acknowledges the necessity for the present of limiting her desires to the annexation of Candia and the provinces bordering on the kingdom, in order to respond to the desires of Europe. The annexation has from all time been the dearest wish of those provinces, which have often expressed it by would be an act of justice and humanity which would taking up arms. Satisfaction given to this desire complete the pacificating work of Europe, and would thus render impossible the return of the troubles periodically agitating these countries. Greece, which has all along experienced the rebound of these troubles, and which exhausts herself in armaments grounded on this abnormal situation, and in expenditure caused by the necessity of according succor to the refugees of the insurgent provinces, and to the repatriated combatants, might thenceforth devote her resources to the material development of the country. Turkey herself would gain in security, and the relations of neighborliness which would be established between the two countries would run no further risk of being disturbed. The rejection of the wishes of Greece would infallibly lead to a general conflagration in those countries, in which the Hellenic people would be led to take part, whatever the efforts of its rulers to prevent it."

The dispatch then proceeded to show, among other things, that there had never been a genuine movement in Crete for separation from Turkey, the insurrection of 1867 having been rather a Greek invasion than a rising of the island itself; and that the inhabitants of Thes

PORTICO OF THE EREоHTHEUM, ATHENS.

saly and Epirus had " always lived peaceably, and willingly submitted themselves to the Ottoman authorities; that they have never taken up arms to make good supposititious claims; that they have sometimes endured, but never invoked, the intervention of a neighboring country; and that, in fact, if rendered secure from the enterprises set afoot by that neighbor, they would continue to live happily and prosperously under the laws of the Ottoman Empire. It was not, therefore, in the name of these provinces, the annexation of which he demanded, that M. Delyannis was entitled to speak at the table of the Congress." The Porte did not consider itself qualified to deal with the argument that the annexation of the provinces named would complete the happiness of Greece, but the circular pointed out that it could not be made to agree with the avowal that the Hellenic Government wished to unite under one sway all countries inhabited by Greeks; and suggested that "political honesty will not permit the dismemberment of one nation to the advantage of another, for the simple reason that the latter would thus be rendered happier." The dispatch concluded with an expression of confidence that the European Powers, duly enlightened on the subject, would "hasten to bring home to the Cabinet of Athens counsels of rectitude and prudence, calculated to turn it from an enterprise equally unjust and impolitic. In any case Europe will never seek to follow Greece along this dangerous path, and thus run the risk of jeopardizing its work of peace."

This circular was not well received by the

Powers. The Greek Government addressed a note to the Porte calling upon it to nominate delegates to examine the question of the rectification of the frontier recommended by the Congress. While the answer to the note was delayed for a considerable period, it was given out that Savfet Pasha was willing to cede eventually to Greece several islands of the Archipelago, but no territory of the Turkish mainland, and reenforcements of troops were dispatched to Epirus and Thessaly. Hobart Pasha spent three days at Athens about the first of October. In an interview which he had with the King, his Majesty told him that, while disposed to wait with patience the decisions of the Powers, Greece would continue its preparations, and, should Europe remain deaf to its claims, would stake its existence on the result. The King's words are said to have made a deep impression upon the Pasba. Shortly after this the Porte seemed to manifest a disposition to come to terms with Greece if the Hellenic Governinent would accept a simple rectification of frontier. At a meeting of the Turkish Ministers in November, Savfet Pasha urged upon his associates the necessity of coming to an amicable arrangement before any foreign intervention should take place. The delimitations recommended by the Berlin Congress were, he said, impracticable, but the Porte would give an equivalent in the direction of Valo. These views were adopted by the Council, and on the 11th of the month the Porte made to the Greek Minister at Constantinople a proposition for the appointment of delegates. Early in December the Porte appointed a military commission to examine into