telegram, dated June 18, 1887, announces that Colonel Subotin will be sent to Roumania to spy out the Roumanian fortifications under his official appointment as Russian Military Attaché in Bucharest and Belgrade. Further, there are despatches announcing the bestowal of the Russian Order of St. Stanislas on the two Roumanian officers who assisted Colonel Subotin in his spying work. Again, in a report sent by M. Hitrovo to the Russian Foreign Office, it is triumphantly alleged that the Roumanian officers officially connected with the Military Attaché had been those who had rendered the greatest services to the Russians in this espionage. It is also stated that a number of Russian engineers, who were employed in mapping the Roumanian fortifications, the position of the guns, and so forth, were going from place to place disguised as hawkers of printed pictures, chromo-lithographs, and the like.

A subsequent telegram reports that the Russian agents who were employed to convey explosives through Roumania to Bulgaria for the purpose of blowing up a train in which Prince Ferdinand was expected to travel were disguised as Russian fishermen. The despatch dealing with this matter was addressed, on December 23, 1888, by the Russian Chargé d'Affaires at Bucharest to the Chief of the Asiatic Department at St. Petersburg-that is, from one Russian official personage to another. There is another despatch from M. Hitrovo to the Russian Consul General in Rustchuk, dated August 12, 1881, which, under the pretext of revising the passports of Russians living in Bulgaria, demands that volunteers should be enlisted who were to be employed in bringing about a rising in Bosnia and the Herzegovina. A subsequent despatch, dated September 5, 1881, announced that General Lesovoy and the other Russian officers who were in charge of the rifle magazines in Bulgaria had been ordered secretly to provide the volunteers for Bosnia with arms and ammunition, and that the Russian Danube Navigation Company would bring additional supplies of weapons to the desired points. It further states that the Montenegrin Government had, by request, provided the Russian Consul in Rustchuk with hundreds of forms of Montenegrin passports, as it was inconvenient to provide the volunteers for Bosnia with Russian documents.

The most remarkable incident of the year in foreign politics was the demonstration which accompanied the visit of the Russian fleet to Toulon in September. The visit was preceded by the conclusion in June of a commercial treaty, highly favourable to France, and the French showed their gratitude for this and previous marks of Russian friendship with their usual effusiveness and love of display. In the telegrams exchanged between the Czar and the President of the French Republic on this occasion, great stress was laid on the object of the union of the two countries being the promotion of peace, and nothing transpired to indicate that any

written alliance had been concluded or was in contemplation. Considerable alarm, however, was caused by a report that Russia proposed to acquire a naval station in the Mediterranean. Similar reports were current after the Franco-German War, and the present one appears to have arisen chiefly from the fact that an unusually large Russian squadron was cruising in that sea. Three of the ships of that squadron-the Emperor Nicholas I., the Admiral Kantzoff, and the Pamiat Azova— are of 8,440, 7,782, and 6,000 tons each, with a speed of seventeen knots, while the largest Austrian vessel is the turret-ship Crown Prince Rudolph, of 6,870 tons, and with a speed of sixteen knots.

II. TURKEY AND THE MINOR STATES OF EASTERN EUROPE.

In the East the country which occupied the most prominent place in European politics during the year was Servia. The menacing attitude of the Radicals, and the consequent danger to the dynasty, produced a reconciliation in January at Biarritz between the ex-King Milan and Queen Natalie with the object of saving the throne for their son. The general election for the Skouptchina was held on March 8, and was accompanied by the usual sanguinary conflicts. Prince Arsene Karageorgievitch, the pretender to the throne, whose wife is the wealthy Russian Princess Demidoff, was said to have distributed a great deal of money through his agents to induce the peasants to support his cause, but the Ministry as usual secured a majority, though this time it was a very small one. It was indeed doubtful whether they had a majority at all, as this depended upon whether the six Radicals who had been returned for the district of Rudnik should be unseated and replaced by Liberals. When the Skouptchina met the Government insisted that the members the validity of whose election was disputed should not be admitted to the House, upon which the Radicals, after an ineffectual protest, left the House in a body, together with the ex-Premier, M. Garaschanin, the leader of the Progressists. The nine sections of the Skouptchina which have to examine the election writs were then balloted for, and as only the Liberal members remained in the House, Liberals only could be elected to them, who could of course declare as many Radical elections void as they pleased. The situation now became untenable, and the young King, probably by the advice of his parents, determined to cut the knot by a coup d'état. There was a great reception in the Royal Konak at Belgrade on April 13, to which were invited the two Regents and all the Ministers, the highest military officials, and the members of the household, including the King's former governor, Dr. Dokitch. The ostensible reason was that the King had, a few days ago, passed his examinations with distinction. The young King conversed with his guests in a gracious manner until, at

about ten o'clock, a piece of paper was handed to him by an adjutant. He at once rose-as it was at first believed to propose a toast-and expressed his gratitude to the Regents for their services during the last four years, but added that they would no longer be needed, as from that moment he, the King of Servia, would undertake to rule the country himself.

The Regents were at once made prisoners for the night, together with all the Ministers of the Liberal Cabinet. Meanwhile the King, with a large military suite, went out and visited the barracks, at each of which he briefly explained the situation, and was enthusiastically received, the troops taking the oath of allegiance there and then. It was three in the morning before the young ruler returned to the palace. Several other arrests were made, some at the theatre and some in private houses. The royal printing office was surrounded by troops, the royal proclamation printed, the telegraph office seized, and orders sent out to the provinces for the administering of the oath to all the garrisons.

On the following morning a proclamation to the people of Servia appeared, signed by King Alexander, stating that the constitution had of late been placed in sore jeopardy, that the rights of the citizens had been imperilled, and that the constitutional position of Parliament had been so abased that no course was left open for the King but to make an end of this unhappy condition of affairs. His Majesty therefore announced that he had taken the kingly power into his own hands, and declared that from that day the constitution would come into effective force and acquire its full significance. The Skouptchina was at the same time dissolved, and writs were issued for new elections to be held on May 30. At eleven o'clock King Alexander went to the cathedral, where a Te Deum was sung in celebration of his accession to the throne. On April 15 the ex-Regents and ex-Ministers were set at liberty, and telegrams arrived from all the European capitals, including St. Petersburg and Vienna, expressing satisfaction at the assumption of royal authority by the young King.

Dr. Dokitch, the King's former governor, was charged to form a new Ministry, and meanwhile the Liberal municipal councillors who had been appointed by the late Ministry were dismissed, and the Radicals whom they had superseded were reinstated. Queen Natalie arrived at Kladova on May 22, and was met there by her son. The general election took place on May 30, and resulted in an overwhelming majority for the Radicals, the Liberals having abstained from taking part in it. The Skouptchina, in its address to the King, asked that the members of the late Liberal Cabinet should be impeached for violations of the constitution and "crimes against the common weal of Servia," and thanked him for his "heroic act of patrio

The impeachment was agreed to by a large majority, and the trial began on December 22, but had not concluded at

the end of the year. Meanwhile there was another change of Cabinet. In October the health of the Premier, Dr. Dokitch, broke down, and he consequently resigned. General Gruitch, who was War Minister under Dr. Dokitch, now accepted the premiership with the consent of the Radicals. He had several times held this post before, besides being Minister for War and diplomatic agent at St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Athens, and Sofia. In politics he is an Opportunist, having at the same time kept on good terms with King Milan and Queen Natalie, the Liberals and the Radicals, the ex-Regent, M. Ristitch, and the young King Alexander. He was generally regarded as a friend of Russia, and as keeping the place of Premier warm for M. Pasitch, the Servian Minister at St. Petersburg. The state of affairs in the country, however, was still very unsatisfactory. At one place a battalion, ordered to join a certain garrison, was unable to leave because the creditors and the tradesmen of the officers objected to their departure. At another the innkeepers refused to supply dinner to the officers, who were unable to settle for it because their pay was in arrears. Defalcations were discovered in the stamp department to the amount of 1,500,000 francs, in which some officials of the Ministry of Finance, to whom the control was entrusted, were involved, together with the officials of the State printing office. most striking illustration, however, of the prevailing corruption among the officials was the statement made to Count Kalnoky by M. Milanovitch, who was sent on a mission to Vienna in order to settle the differences about the interpretation of the commercial treaty with Austria, that the decree fixing the tariff of the excise duties on various imports was issued because the Servian customs officials allowed themselves to be bribed by importers to accept fictitious invoices, on which the excise duty was calculated.

The

The young King, elated by the success of his coup d'état, made while on a triumphal tour through the country some imprudent speeches which greatly raised the hopes of the Radicals and gave offence to Austria. A communication in the semi-official Fremdenblatt of Vienna warned him in very plain language of the danger of such indiscretions, and pointed out how prejudicial to Servian interests must be such incidents as the publication of an appeal in one of the Servian Radical papers for funds to drive the Austrians out of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the reception with military honours on the manoeuvring ground near Belgrade, in the presence of the King, of a well-known Bosnian agitator.

Following upon the commercial treaties with AustriaHungary and Germany, Servia this year entered into conventions with France and England. The policy indicated in these conventions was that Servia declines to grant the most favoured nation treatment to those countries with whom the trade balance leaves her a debtor. With regard to France, the matter was easily arranged, as Servia's exports to France are

larger than her importation of French goods. Servia's imports from England, on the other hand, are valued at 5,000,000 francs, while her export trade to England is stated to be less than a tenth of that sum.

Owing to the heavy balance in favour of Great Britain, Servia refused to concede to her the most favoured nation clause, and proposed to raise the customs on a number of articles of British origin. In consequence of this policy on the part of Servia, it was not found possible to come to a definite agreement with Great Britain, but a temporary compromise was arrived at by which England will enjoy the advantage of the most favoured nation clause until the end of 1893. If no understanding were come to by the 1st of January, 1894, it was the intention of Servia to apply the general customs tariff to the imports from England.

In Bulgaria peace and prosperity continued to prevail, and, thanks to the wise policy of Prince Ferdinand and M. Stambouloff, her government grew stronger both at home and abroad. The principal incident in the earlier part of the year was the expulsion from Tirnova by the municipality of Monsignor Clement, archbishop of that town. The adoption of a mild form of lynch law against the more unpopular clergy is no novelty in Bulgaria. Under Turkish rule the priests of Greek nationality who supplanted the native ministers used to be stoned and mobbed, and had to go about under the escort of Turkish soldiers. Even under the present régime, the Bulgarians have made short work of priests and bishops whom they disliked. In 1886, Monsignor Simeon, the metropolitan of Shumla, was, after preaching a sermon in Varna, forcibly ejected from that town, the whole population seeing him out of it, and threatening him with condign punishment if he dared to set foot in it again. On his return to his diocese he had to keep in hiding for a long time in fear of his life. A similar misfortune happened to Monsignor Clement after his notorious address in the Cathedral of Sistovo in June, 1889. The archbishop insulted Prince Ferdinand in the course of his remarks, and some one in the congregation rose and loudly censured the priest for his want of patriotism, amidst the applause of the bystanders, upon which he was turned out of Sofia, and taken under an escort of gendarmes to his residence in Tirnova. He is the chief of the Russian party in Bulgaria, small as that party is at present. He had a hand in the kidnapping of Prince Alexander, and has been more than suspected of being privy to every one of the conspiracies against Prince Ferdinand, though he was twice Premier of Bulgaria, once under Prince Alexander, and once during the interregnum between that Prince's enforced journey and his triumphal return. He also made himself notorious by inviting the people to kneel down before General Kaulbars as the representative of the Czar, and by insolently reminding Frince Ferdinand, on his first entry into Sofia, of the