Delehaie, transmitted to the Governments with an explanatory essay by the Chevalier Descamps, appears to us to be, under existing conditions, in every way acceptable, and of such a nature that we should willingly use all our efforts to support it. At the same time, we beg the Conference and its national groups to proceed without hesitation in this direction, either by a general petition from the Conference to the different Governments, or by each group approaching its own Government, or by a motion in its own Parliament. The separate initiative of influential members would also be of great advantage to the common work."

Mr. W. Gilliver presented a resolution of greeting from the Birmingham Workmen's Peace and Arbitration Society, and also from the Trades Council of that city.

Mr. W. P. Byles (of Bradford) proposed the following resolution on Disarmament:

"This Congress protests against the constantly increasing expenditure on armaments, and urges the members of the various Legislatures throughout the world to vote against any further increase of armaments, and also calls upon the voters in every country to vote only for those candidates who will support this policy."

Considerable opposition to this was evinced by Dr. Kolben (of Austria) and others, who preferred a different form of words; but Mr. Byles's motion was eventually adopted by a considerable majority, and on being put as part of the report it was carried without a dissentient voice.

In the evening a banquet was given to the members of the Congress by the Municipality of Budapest. M. Charles Ráth (Oberbürgermeister) presided, and was supported by the Minister of the Interior, Baron Perczel, and the Vice-Burgomaster Märkus.

FIFTH SESSION.-TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND.

Dr. Richter and M. Gaston Moch presented the Report of the Commission on the Composition of Future Congresses, which recommended the further postponement of the question to another Congress. The two reporters, however, opposed the postponement, and after considerable discussion, in which several English delegates urged that they had no instructions how to vote on the question of the admission of other than peace societies to the Congress, the rules proposed were adopted, the chief point being that in future societies which do not make the peace cause their main object, but have given in their adhesion to the International Peace Bureau, will be allowed to take part in the Congress, on the understanding that no such society will be entitled to more than one vote. Peace societies will have one vote for every hundred members up to ten votes, every fraction of a hundred counting as one hundred members. No society will be allowed more than ten votes.

Monsieur Ducommun submitted the Appeal to the Nations, which was approved.

Dr. Richter, on behalf of the German societies, proposed that in future the Congress meet once in every two years, and invited it to meet next in Hamburg. M. Passy and Mr. S. J. Capper urged that the Congress should meet every year as heretofore. Dr. Clark suggested that the Congress and the interParliamentary Conference should meet in alternate years in future; but it was resolved by a large majority that the Congress continue to meet annually. The question of the place of the next meeting was referred to the Bureau.

Votes of thanks to the President, the Press, the Local Committee, the Municipality, and the Govern

ment were heartily adopted, and with a few wellchosen words from General Türr, who had proved an admirable president, the Congress came to an end.

The members of the Hungarian Peace Society were afterwards entertained to lunch at the Hotel Royal, by the members of the Congress, under the presidency of the Baron von Suttner.

It only remains to add that the thanks of all the delegates are due to the Hungarian Committee for their most generous hospitality and uniform courtesy: it will be many years before those who were fortunate enough to be present will forget their visit to the beautiful city of Budapest. One word must be said in conclusion of our invaluable friend and colleague, Elie Ducommun. Once again he was at the service of everybody, genial yet firm, directing the work of the Congress without putting himself forward, and proving himself worthy to be what he undoubtedly is, the mainspring of the Peace propaganda in Europe. J. F. G.

OUR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.

FRANCE.

THERE is nothing else talked about in the French Press but the approaching visit of the Tzar to Paris; and the majority of journals appear to attribute to this act of international courtesy a significance and import which it will not have. It is doubtless very interesting to see the head of the great autocratic monarchy, in which are preserved the ideas, the modes of feeling and thought of past ages, becoming the official guest of a democratic country which owes its present institutions and social life entirely to a revolution which gave a blow to the monarchical idea in Europe from which it has only partially recovered. But it would be a strange misunderstanding of the meaning of the enthusiastic demonstrations which almost all France is preparing for its illustrious visitor, to find in them, as some do, a sign in advance of a return on the part of a country towards a past with which, without abjuring it, she has nevertheless broken; or, as others, the presage that very soon a changed policy, more militant in character-a policy of action-is going to succeed the policy of prudence, of reserve, of peace, which has been wisely pursued for so many long years by the great nation after her recovery from the terrible crisis through which she passed a quarter of a century ago. I would not affirm that the idea of revenge-I speak of the revenge of blood, of the brutal revenge which would ensanguine the plains of Germany, red with the flames of burning houses, and not of that reparation, of that just and pacific solution of the Alsace-Lorraine question, which every Frenchman, every man with a sense of equity, must hope for-I would not affirm, say, that this idea, the desire exciting like powder, does not slumber in many hearts, ready to burst into flame at the first puff of wind coming from one knows not where. But these are desires showing little wisdom, desires as fatal for the country itself as for humanity; and for the last twenty-five years France has provided herself with abundance of wisdom. She has dressed her wounds and cured her sores; she has recovered for herself riches and a new spirit in calm contemplation and proud silence, and now that she is again valiant and strong, and, as it were, clothed with renewed youth; now that she has reconquered by these long years of incessant toil her place among the Great Powers, there are few among her sons who would have the folly, the culpable impudence, to desire that she should throw herself into the perilous adventures of a war in which

her new fortune might perish for ever. If the French hail with so much enthusiasm the arrival of the Tzar on French soil, it is undoubtedly because this visit flatters their legitimate pride, because it appears to them as an undeniable proof that their country holds now in the concert of Great European Powers that high place to which fifteen years ago one could hardly hope she would ever rise again; and one may say that the very fact that it is not the chief of a State placed at the head of a liberal and democratic nation, but the autocrat of all the Russias, the semi-religious ruler whose authority is exercised absolutely over so many millions of souls, who is coming in person, surrounded by his kinsfolk, to Paris, the living incarnation of his people, adds still more to this satisfaction of the national pride. But it may be frankly stated that the great reason for the public enthusiasm for the Russian alliance, which the Imperial visit makes clear to all eyes, is that it appears, rightly or wrongly, to most Frenchmen as the most sure and certain guarantee of peace, as the only assured protection against the aggressive intentions which, justly or no, we attribute to Germany; as, above all, the only barrier to the encroachments of England in her attempts to enclose within her arms universal colonial domination and the empire of the sea. Nothing makes more solid friendships than common fears and common hatreds. Now it must be acknowledged that the only danger which can threaten Russia is that which France herself dreads-the preponderance of Germany in Europe, the preponderance in the commercial and maritime world, and, above all, in Asia, of England; and this double hatred of Germany and England which is so strong in the minds of the majority of Frenchmen, is gratuitously attributed to the Tzar. The Union of France and Russia appears at the same time a marriage of prudence and attachment; but this attachment, at any rate on the part of the French, is beyond everything caused by the hatred of another--an evil counsellor sometimes-and the fears which alone would, in my judgment, fully justify it are perhaps less well-grounded than is apparent.

The hostility towards France, in two at least of the nations of the Triple Alliance-Germany and Austriaappears to be very considerably mitigated, and no one acquainted with the history of Europe during the last twenty-five years, and with the present state of Germany, can seriously suppose that that Power is waiting for an occasion to seek a quarrel with us. The chances of peace, if one leaves out of sight for a moment affairs in the East, appear at the present time in Europe to be greater than ever before; and it would not seem that the cause is to be sought in the Franco-Russia alliance, but simply in the fact that to-day each of the great nations of Europe would run most dreadful risks in the event of a war, and, apart from France, even if successful, have nothing to gain. Now, there can be no better proof of the pacific intentions of France than her whole attitude and conduct for several years past. Nothing need cause us to despair even over this cruel question of Alsace-Lorraine, of an agreement being arrived at, and a reasonable arrangement brought about by reparation for the denial of justice of which France and Alsace have been the victims, and the cessation of this state of armed peace which is exhausting the most vigorous nations. There remain the pretensions of England to universal domination (such at least as are attributed to her), her perpetual attempts at encroachment (real or pretended) at all points of the globe. It would seem that if English foreign policy is calumniated abroad, if the acts of England are ill understood, if intentions are attributed to her which are not really hers, if she is wrongly accused of complicity in machinations and plots in which she has had no hand, her greatest care should be to discharge her responsibility and enlighten

Europe on her true conduct and her real sentiments; if, on the contrary, the policy attributed to her is really hers, she would be wise not to persist in it. It is not her interest, it is possibly not the interest of Europe, it is possibly not good for the peace of the world, that a closer alliance should succeed the friendship which at present unites France and Russia. The conduct of England in Egypt, however, doubtless without her desiring it, her attitude on the majority of colonial questions, and the unjust judgments of which, partly through her own fault, her policy in the East has been the victim, all contribute to bring about this closer alliance which, for financial reasons, Russia cannot but ardently desire. I believe it would be dangerous for France, in every way embarrassing to her. I could not desire better proof of this than the ineffective rôle she has been condemned to play in affairs in the East, where thousands upon thousands of Christians have perished who might have been saved by an energetic intervention. This intervention might have been made by France if she had not been living in a state of semi-constraint not to thwart the desires of her ally, who by a singular chance has been the champion and protector of the Sultan. If she were not so distrustful of the goodwill of England, and of her disinterestedness, she would not have thrown herself into the arms of the Tzar; she would have preserved her independence; she would have remained faithful to her traditional policy in the East. In cordial relations with England she would have had less fear of the hostility of the Powers of Central Europe; she would have felt less necessity for seeking in the great Eastern Empire a defender and ally against possible attacks. With such a state of affairs in existence the face of Europe would be changed and a new policy inaugurated, more truly, more sincerely, more voluntarily pacific. But what proof could England furnish to Europe of her disinterestedness and the righteousness of her intentions? I know of one

only-the evacuation of Egypt. What is felt in France as the great evil is not so much the fact that the English are in Egypt, as that they remain there after having promised to leave. Sept., 1896.

GERMANY.

L. MARILLIER.

The general feeling against duelling grows stronger and stronger, and the Press has constantly stated that great reforms are planned with regard to this custom. Herr von Kotze, who, it will be remembered, shot Herr von Schrader, has not been liberated by the Emperor, and is still at the fortress of Glatz. As his Majesty has formerly, on similar occasions, been pleased to liberate the prisoner almost instantly, it would seem as though he also had begun to think somewhat differently on the subject. I have much pleasure in reporting that at a meeting of the Rhenish Provincial Synod a resolution was passed against duelling. It runs as follows: "The Provincial Synod requests the General Synod to use its influence in forming Church laws against the practice of duelling, and requests the spiritual Court to give orders how the Church is to act when the burial of persons who have been killed in a duel takes place. The Provincial Synod begs the General Synod to request his Majesty to forbid duels by a Royal order, and that lawful means may be found, such as a court of honour, which would defend any man's honour as effectively as it would deprive that man of his honour who made ruthless attacks on anybody. In this way the nightmare of the duel which oppresses the moral and Christian feeling of the people would be done away with without fear of any person's honour being damaged." I need scarcely point out how important the co-operation of the Church is in our endeavours, and it is of immense importance that such a step as

his has been taken, which, it is to be hoped, will soon be followed by others of a similar character.

After lengthy consultations with the publisher of the Baroness Suttner's book "Lay Down Your Arms," we have, at last, been able to publish a cheap edition of this work at one shilling, the price having hitherto been six. It is hoped that many thousands of copies of this book will be bought by our members, so that the undertaking may prove a success. The book has been translated into Hungarian and into French, appearing in Belgium in the Indépendance Belge, so that it has now been published in no less than fourteen languages.

Since last I wrote, a meeting of the German Peace Societies took place at Frankfort, in the Rosenau, which was extremely well attended. I had proposed that the institution of life-members might be good measure, and the idea was accepted, although the sum of fifty marks, or £2 10s., seems a very small amount for the privilege. The next meeting of the German Societies will take place at Hamburg in 1897.

The discussion about Elsass-Lothringen continues with unabated vigour. Whilst Captain Gaston Moch wishes that France and Germany should reconsider the terms of the Frankfort Treaty, another correspondent of the Monatliche Friedens Correspondenz, M. Paul Fournier, editor of the Mercure de France, says that Elsass-Lothringen is a German country, always was so, and that Germany was very right in taking it. A very great concession!

Wiesbaden, Sept., 1896.

ITALY.

A. BOTHMER.

The Peace Congress having called me from Rome to Budapest, as delegate of the Roman Association, I had the pleasure not only of witnessing the splendid receptions which the Peace Society of this beautiful capital of Hungary, the Government, the Municipality, and the people seemed to be vieing with each other to render more imposing, but I had also the honour of meeting the representatives of that Association of which CONCORD is the organ, and noting once more the importance and activity of the English Association. All the members of the Congress were unanimous in deploring the absence of Mr. Hodgson Pratt, whose name will one day be inscribed in the Golden Book amongst the benefactors of humanity; but the sympathy of all was aroused when it was known that his absence was caused solely by the fatigue undergone in his recent journey across the Atlantic, which made it impossible for him to undertake another journey, and created a sentiment of increased admiration for the Chairman of your executive committee, and a sincere hope that his efforts to hasten the conclusion of a permanent treaty of Arbitration between Great Britain and the United States might be speedily crowned with success. It will, indeed, be a day of exultation, to be noted in the history of civilisation, that day which will make the Anglo-Saxon race the standard-bearer of progress. But to return to the Congress of Budapest. I cannot omit saying that here as in other assemblies where I have had the honour and good fortune to meet them, Messrs. Green, Clarke, Moscheles, Capper, and Snape contributed largely to the work of the Congress, and earned by their speeches a welldeserved influence. I will not enter into further particulars, as CONCORD has the most reliable representatives and correspondents, but will call your attention at once to the great movement in favour of peace in Italy, as I wish to point out, especially to impartial observers, the prominent attitude which has been assumed by the Roman Catholic party within these last few weeks. It would not only be an act of negligence, but one of injustice, if we did not note it.

At the Italian Catholic Congress, which was held at Fiesole a few days since, a resolution proposed by an eminent prelate was unanimously carried, to the following effect:

"Seeing that the mediation and civil inter-social arbitration of the Pope is an absolute social necessity, as the means of preventing as far as possible the Scourge of war or an armed peace, we ardently desire that Papal arbitration may become a permanent social institution, desired by the Powers as well as the people, for the settlement of all inter-social differences without recurring to armed intervention, which may be the strongest force, but which is not always the force of right and justice. Seeing that the intervention and arbitration of the Popes, dating from the great Leo I. to Leo XIII., has not only saved society from great evils, but has also been most beneficial, it would be merely a duty, in all justice and gratitude towards the Papacy, to further the propagation of the idea of its arbitration, adopting, if necessary, the following means:

"That the idea of Pontifical arbitration should be rendered popular in Italy, and indeed in all Christendom, through the periodical press, reviews, &c., by conferences and popular pamphlets, requesting historians and all who discuss international rights to treat this argument, endeavouring to remove existing prejudices, and demonstrating the possibility and the social necessity of arbitration. That, through the political and Catholic representatives, the Governments of the different nations may be induced by all legal means to accept the idea of the Pontifical arbitration. That, to this end, the permanent committee of the Catholic Congress in Italy should keep in touch with the heads of all the great Catholic associations, so as to ensure their co-operation in the adoption of Papal arbitration."

Of course these considerations and conclusions are arrived at from a Roman Catholic point of view (nor could it be expected otherwise in the Assembly at Fiesole), and the arbitrary jurisdiction thus to be conferred on the Roman Pontiff may not be satisfactory to all supporters or friends of peace; but the one important point to be noted is the solemn pronunciamento in favour of the principle of arbitration and against war, by that party to which most Catholics in Italy belong, and the resolution which the Italian Catholic party has officially adopted, and the active part they propose taking, not only in the peninsula, but amongst their co-religionists in all parts of the world.

The question of form as regards the institution of such a permanent tribunal of Arbitration may give matter for reflection and even excite displeasure in some cases, but the cause of peace must profit largely not only by this movement, but also by the moral influence of the Catholic party, and by the emulation this must create amongst parties of different creeds and opinions.

Budapest, September, 1896.

V. PRESTINI.

A PERMANENT INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR AFRICA.

THE following letter has been forwarded to the Peace Societies of those countries having territories or spheres of influence in Africa; the subject was brought before the Peace Congress at Budapest, but the time was not thought ripe for the action proposed :—

"Dear Sir,-At the request of the Committee of the International Arbitration and Peace Association, we have the honour to address you on a subject which is closely connected with the general purpose of all

Peace Societies. We refer to the question of creating a Permanent International Commission for Africa.

"2. The desirability of providing some adequate agency for diminishing causes of dispute between European nations which possess territories or 'spheres of influence' in that Continent has, from time to time, attracted the attention of persons desiring to diminish conflicts in that part of the world. Not improbably the subject has already been considered by your Society, and our Committee thinks that the time is ripe for some joint action, or at least for mutual consultation, by the friends of peace. Indeed, it may be said that, with the growing desire to establish colonial settlements or to carry out mining and commercial undertakings, there is a growing danger of collision in Africa between the local representatives of European States. The Governments of these States are thereby compromised, and their action is often rendered difficult by the receipt of reports from the territories in question which are one-sided and incomplete. On the publication of these reports in Europe the public there are led to arrive at hasty conclusions, and are incensed by some supposed trespass upon national rights; so that serious embarrassment is caused to the Government concerned. Their hands are in a measure tied, and disputes arise with other Powers which have colonies in the neighbourhood, although these would easily be settled in many cases were the whole of the facts accurately known.

"3. Local disputes are especially likely to arise between colonists and agents of different European States, from the fact that well-defined boundaries are often non-existent for the vast territories, often but half-explored, which have been annexed, or which have been included in the several spheres of influence.'

"4. In other cases, chartered companies may occupy territory which is not known to be outside their jurisdiction, with the result of the Home Government being perhaps called upon to pay compensation for rights which have been infringed without their knowledge or desire.

5. From such causes conflicting claims arise, for the settlement of which no competent authority exists in any part of Africa; and it, therefore, seems to our Cominittee very desirable that the question of creating such authority should be carefully considered. It appears to us that the creation of official bodies having jurisdiction in Africa would supply the means of promptly ascertaining the whole facts when disputes arise.

6. We are, therefore, desired to inquire from the Peace Societies of European nations possessing colonies, settlements, and spheres of influence in Africa, whether they are prepared to enter upon the consideration of this question. Our Committee do not venture at this stage to go into details, but only to indicate generally that it would perhaps be useful to establish in the principal divisions of Africa permanent International Commissions, to which such disputes might be at once referred for at least ad interim decisions, and pending ultimate orders from the Home Governments. In this way local conflicts might be avoided, and temporary steps taken for the maintenance of law and order in the localities concerned.

"7. It is also most desirable to protect the rights and interests of the indigenous populations, for they are especially exposed to acts of injustice and wrongful deprivation of their lands by ambitious and reckless agents or adventurers. The invasion and occupation of territory belonging to the natives of Africa are, as you know, frequently excused on the ground that European colonists and others bring with them the benefits of civilisation.' The result has in too many cases been quite the opposite. European settlers and adventurers have, in many cases, set an evil example

in their personal conduct, have plundered the people, have introduced intoxicating liquors, and have facilitated war and massacre by improved firearms. In consequence of such occurrences, the excellent and devoted efforts of Christian missionaries are too often neutralised by the inexcusable conduct of so-called Christians coming from Europe.

"8. In the next place, the creation of such an International Commission as that now suggested would afford a means of giving effect to the provisions of the Brussels Act relating to the importation of arms into Africa. Our Committee has repeatedly called public attention to the ineffective enforcement of that Act, and to the need of better arrangements for its enforcement, but hitherto without much apparent result.

"9. We need hardly remind you of many incidents which fully bear out the above statements. You are well acquainted with the disputes or conflicts in which Great Britain, Portugal, France, and the South African Republic have been concerned-conflicts between Italy and Abyssinia; disputes as to territory on the Niger and near the sources of the Nile, in Mashonaland, and in Matabeleland.

"10. For these reasons it has, for several years past, been a leading object of our Association to consider and point out the best means of maintaining peace, security, and justice in Africa, through due provision for the settlement of all disputes, whether between Europeans or between Europeans and native tribes. So long ago as 1884, at a Conference convoked at Berne by our Committee, resolutions were adopted with the view of preventing hostilities between colonists of different nationality, as well as acts of oppression towards indigenous races. Moreover, in a letter to Lord Granville when Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, we expressed a hope that some international body might be constituted for the exercise of arbitral functions in the case of disputes. In this letter we urged that if the representatives appointed to act on such a tribunal were carefully selected for their high character and qualifications, there would be some security for prompt and equitable settlement. The existence of such a body would,' we added, 'afford the means of transmitting full and reliable reports to the parent States, whenever it might become necessary to refer disputes to the Home Governments in Europe and America.'

"11. A resolution in the same sense was adopted at the Antwerp Peace Congress two years ago, on the motion of M. E. Thiaudiere, supported by Madame Marie Pognon, both members of the French Association for International Arbitration. During the sittings of the Geographical Congress in London last year a letter appeared from the pen of M. Déclés in the Pall Mall Gazette to the same effect.

"12. We would also remind you that it was the object of the General Act of the West African Conference (Berlin, 1884) to provide, if possible, against the danger in question, so far as the Congo territory was concerned. The 34th Article of that Act provides that Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land on the coasts of the African Continent outside its present possessions, or which, being hitherto without such possessions, shall acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a Protectorate there, shall accompany these respective Acts with a notification thereof, addressed to the other signatory Powers of the present Act in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of their own.'

"13. Such an International Commission in Africa as has now been suggested would probably comprise among its functions the duty of calling attention to any neglect of the provisions of the Treaty just referred to, with the view of preventing possible misunderstandings. We have good reasons for referring to these useful provisions of the above Treaty, inas

much as serious complications might have arisen recently between two of the great Powers through the neglect of one of them to observe the spirit, if not the exact terms of the Article above quoted.

"14. The proposed Commission, if constituted, may very probably consider it desirable to recommend that the 'notification' in question should apply, not only to territory in actual occupation, but also to 'spheres of influence,' whenever these latter are assigned to any state or chartered company.

"15. The proposed Commission would also render a great service in providing that boundaries be defined without delay. This would seem to become quite necessary in order to prevent the occurrence of controversies and conflicts later on, when colonists and adventurers are pushing forward into new territory which has not been defined, and which lies, therefore, under unknown jurisdiction.

"16. In view of all these considerations, our Committee consider it very desirable to invite other Peace Societies, belonging to countries having settlements and territorial interests in Africa, to favour us with their views. We particularly desire to know whether your Committee consider that the suggested International Commission is feasible, and, if so, under what conditions. In the event of our receiving favourable replies, we will prepare a Memorial for submission to the Governments of the States concerned, and will forward copies for approval to the several Peace Societies, so that, if they think fit, they may present the same to their several Governments.

"With the expression of our hearty esteem and friendship for the members of your Committee,

"We remain, dear Sir,
"Yours faithfully,
(Signed)

"HODGSON PRATT, "J. F. GREEN."

"The Figaro, discussing the conditions of peace said to have been stipulated by the Emperor Menelek, says:- The Emperor will not demand a pecuniary indemnity for the ransom of the Italian prisoners. He merely requires the formal recognition of his independence. This Ethiopian king, by his conduct, affords a lesson in good policy to several statesmen of the West. If in 1870 the Germans had acted with the magnanimity which he displays, an insuperable breach would not have been created between the two great nations. An implacable policy is repudiated even by African sovereigns, and Prince Bismarck might meditate upon this fact in his solitude at Friedrichsruh.'"

MR. PRATT'S VISIT TO AMERICA.

THE following extract from the Sunday Herald, of Boston, is one of many gratifying proofs of the good impression made in the United States by our Chairman's visit:

"The brief stay which Mr. Hodgson Pratt has made in this country has left the impression that he has done a great work in devoting his time and his fortune to the promotion of international arbitration. A man who constantly puts his cause before himself,

and who sees, as our own Garrison did, that a great cause can only be promoted by indefatigable exertion, he has rallied the forces of the civilised world in favour of peace. Without a commission from any human authority, with strong feeling in his own heart that this work must be done, he has in a quiet way during the last fifteen years brought together among the different nations of Europe the persons who have felt that our civilisation, if it was to be worthy of the name, must provide ways by which the differences between nations can be settled by peaceful means. He is an instance of what a single man with a great purpose in his mind and heart can accomplish by persistent effort in one direction. His visit to this country has done much to advance international arbitration, and his addresses have made it easier for Americans and Englishmen to think and to feel together on the questions which they have in common. He has rendered a great service to the interests of both countries."

THE ORGANISATION OF INTER

NATIONAL ARBITRATION.

WE desire to call the attention of our readers to & pamphlet bearing the above title. It is a translation of the Memorial to the Powers, prepared, at the request of the Inter-Parliamentary Conference of 1895, by the Chevalier E. Descamps, Belgian Senator, as an essay introductory to the scheme of a Permanent Court of International Arbitration, prepared by M. Houzeau Delehaie, and adopted by the abovenamed Conference. This essay has been summarised and translated by Mr. Hodgson Pratt, and published by our Association. It is a most valuable piece of work, and we commend it to the careful consideration of our members. Copies may be obtained at the offices of the Association, price 3d.

LETTERS FROM OUR FRIENDS.

It gives us unfeigned pleasure to publish the following extracts from a letter received from our colleagues, Les Amis de la paix du Puy de Dôme, France. It is very gratifying to receive such testimony from our friends across the Channel:

"We profit by this occasion to inform you of the excellent impression produced on public opinion in our country by the judgment pronounced on the adventurer Jameson. Everybody recognises that English justice has given an example which it would be very desirable to see imitated elsewhere.

"We also congratulate your Society on the declarations so distinct, correct and encouraging which it has obtained from the Prime Minister relative to the Venezuelan affair, and to the pending negotiations between England and the United States of America, with a view to the conclusion of a permanent treaty of arbitration between those two great nations. Is it necessary to add that, good Frenchmen as we are, we cannot refrain from a feeling something like envy in regretting that France should not have the honour of giving such an example to the world ?"

Another friend, a University professor in France, in sending his subscription, writes:

"It is always with pleasure that I receive your annual letter, and learn the progress our good work has made. In spite of pessimistic prophecies, right will triumph in the end, and, above all, the thoughts of God, which are thoughts of union and peace, be realised.

"I thank you for your admirable journal. The articles of Mr. Hodgson Pratt, in particular, are full of force and wisdom."