should be made of an agitation in England against the maladministration of the Congo Free State, whose accusers bring forward a mass of evidence to the effect that the principle of freedom of trade in the Congo basin has been violated and the natives subjected to unjustifiable oppression. An attempt has been made to induce our Foreign Office to set the signatories to the Berlin Act in motion against the State. A strong indictment of the State forms part of Mr. E. D. Morel's new work on "The Affairs of West Africa." In May an agreement was signed in Brussels by which Mr. Robert Williams obtained a concession to build a railway between the northern borders of Rhodesia over Congo State territory to Lake Kassall on the navigable reaches of the Lualaba. This line is to connect with the Rhodesian system under an arrangement Mr. Williams had made with Mr. Rhodes, and communication between Cairo and the Cape would thus be effected via Lualaba, Upper Congo, Lake Albert and the Nile. It appeared that the difficulty of getting the German Reichstag to sanction the plan of building a line to the interior from the coast of German East Africa had led to the abandonment of the original plan of carrying a Cape to Cairo line through German territory.

In Portuguese West Africa Mr. Williams also obtained an important concession for a railway from Lobito Bay, near Benguela, to the eastern frontier, connecting with the north and south trunk line. The line, which is to cost several millions, is to be built under a Portuguese company, and as Lobito Bay is four days nearer England than is the Cape, and is said to be a finer harbour than Delagoa Bay, the economic development of Portuguese West Africa and of the interior to the north of our South African possessions is expected to be greatly facilitated by the new railway.

In Dahomey the Kotonu-Tehaonron Railway, which is eventually to be carried to Karimama, on the Niger, had been carried over fifty miles out of a total of 377. The work is being done faster than is the case with the British line from Lagos to Ilorin, and the French claim that they will be able to tap the trade of Northern Nigeria. The French are continuing to show great activity and spirit in the development of their West African Empire, and the trade of all their possessions seems to be increasing relatively faster than our own. In the French Congo this result has been achieved by a Concessions régime, aimed at the destruction of British firms, and the firms of Messrs. John Holt & Co. and Messrs. Hatton & Cookson have submitted their grievances to the Foreign Office, without effect at the time of writing. In Senegambia the French continue to make rapid progress.

In Algeria there have been no further important developments beyond the settling of the boundary question with Morocco. The death of El Senussi early in the year seems to have removed, for the time being, the danger of a Tuareg

attack upon French interests, and of a great religious war against the infidel." On the other hand it should be noted that the Sultan, who strongly objected to the division of the Soudan, so far as that act committed the hinterland of Tripoli to French hands, has established a strong Turkish garrison at Bilma and taken action with the intention of occupying the northern side of Lake Chad. The revenue for Algeria in 1900 was 2,044,4127., and the expenditure 1,454,8241. The exports were 9,692,6801., and imports 12,952,7201. In Tunis the revenue for 1901 was 1,589,1091., and expenditure 1,584,5211. Imports were 1,500,4821., and exports 1,565,1027.

It is significant of the importance of Africa to France that her total trade in that Continent in the year 1901 was 28,332,000l., as against 27,292,000l. in 1900.

Morocco. The reforming zeal of Mulai Abdul Aziz has led to serious internal troubles in Morocco, and when the year ended it seemed an open question whether the throne would not be wrested from him by Bu Hamára, the leader of a revolt directed not less against the Sultan personally than against the influence of the infidel. Competent witnesses in the country believe the movement to be anti-Christian and anti-European, and though at the time of writing the lives of Europeans have been respected, they have found it advisable to withdraw to the coast. For some years the Sultan had lived in the southern capital, Marakesh, and there had been a relaxation of authority and of tax-gathering rapacity in the north, but early in 1902 he decided to reside at Fez, to carry out in that region the reforms he had already instituted at Marakesh. The tribesmen, however, took alarm at his coming, and either would not or could not understand his aims. He, nevertheless, set to work reforming the prisons and the administration of justice, and for a time it seemed that things would go well, important Berber tribes, believed to be ripe for revolt, coming into the city to do him homage and pay their taxes. their taxes. This action, however, was probably a ruse in order to gain time, for in October it was announced that inconclusive negotiations had been carried on between the Sultan and the Berbers, that the latter had thrown off the mask of allegiance, and that the Sultan had sent a force out from Fez against them. The rebels were under the leadership of a soldier who had been in the Sultan's service--one Omar Zarhuni, otherwise "Bu Hamára "-and there was a conflict, in which they were worsted. Thinking the disturbance at an end the Sultan went to Kabal in November to recruit his health, which had suffered from the malarious climate of Fez; but in his absence, while he was suppressing disorder in the Zimmur district, the revolt assumed formidable proportions. the month he learned that his troops had suffered a sharp defeat fifty miles to the east of Fez, that Omar Zarhuni had installed himself at Tesa with a force variously estimated at from 20,000 to 30,000 men, and had set up a Government of his

own. Returning hastily to Fez the Sultan concentrated his forces there and sent them against the rebellion. At this point the news becomes too uncertain to be trusted, but a correspondent of the Times at Tangier seems to have arrived at the true facts. His story is to the effect that the Sultan's troops found the enemy in too great force for the road to Tesa to be opened, and that, on the night of December 22, the rebels successfully rushed the Government camp, capturing all the munitions of war, money, stores and other material. The defeated army retreated upon Fez, which they reached in a deplorable condition on the morning of December 24. There was no alternative for the Sultan, in the demoralised state of his army, but to prepare to withstand a siege, and he endeavoured to repair the ruined fortifications of the city. The position at the end of the year was that he was using every effort to recover his authority in the north, that the rebels had thus far refrained. from attacking Fez, and that he was still powerless to move from his position. In order to silence the report that the leader of the revolt was in reality his brother Mulai Mohammed the Sultan had Mulai brought into Fez from the palace in which he had been imprisoned at Mekinez; but this seems to have been an act of doubtful policy, Mulai being received in Fez with enthusiasm in significant contrast with the unpopularity there of the Sultan himself. These events caused much discussion in the European Press, and there was a general apprehension that, in the event of the Sultan's overthrow, the Moroccan question would become acute; but none of the Powers more directly concerned showed any disposition to do more than await develop

ments.

V. MALTA.

The agitation on the language question, described in last year's REGISTER, was brought to an end in January by the withdrawal of the proclamation of 1899 for the suppression of the official status of the Italian language fifteen years hence. This concession by Mr. Chamberlain to local and Italian sentiment produced a better state of feeling and the Legislative Council voted a month's supplies for educational purposes. Mr. Chamberlain, however, warned the Maltese that if the policy of refusing votes for administrative purposes were persisted in the Imperial Government would be compelled to modify the Constitution accordingly-a menace which it has not been found necessary to carry into effect, the Legislative Council thereafter voting the necessary supplies.

H. WHATES.

CHAPTER VIII.

AMERICA.

I. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.

UNBOUNDED prosperity, abundant crops, industrialism carried on at its highest tension, the multiplication of trusts, a great strike of the anthracite coal miners of Pennsylvania, a narrow escape from death of President Roosevelt almost on the anniversary of the day on which his predecessor was shot down, a general election for Members of the House of Representatives, and two speechmaking tours by the President, in which he urged legislation to control and properly regulate the trusts, were the chief features of 1902 in the United States.

The most important political event of the year was the general election for Members of the House of Representatives, which resulted in a victory for the Republicans, who retained their control by a decreased majority. In the election of 1900 the Republicans had a majority of 45; in the election of 1902 their majority was reduced to 30. The Democrats attempted to make the Philippines the great issue before the country, and especially the atrocities said to have been committed by the American army in the islands. They laid the foundation for this by a series of extended debates in Congress during the session which closed early in July, and endeavoured in every way to rivet the attention of the country on the alleged brutality and inhumanity of officers and men, and the wanton murders of the natives. It was discovered by the statements of some returning soldiers that, in order to extract information from the natives, soldiers had resorted to the methods of the Spaniards when in control of the islands, and that the favourite Spanish mode of torture, the "water cure," had been made use of by the Americans. The method of administering the water cure is to place the victim flat on his back face up, and with his mouth held open by a wedge force him to swallow several quarts of water. It was not denied by the Republicans, who defended the army, that the water cure had been used in isolated cases, but it was pleaded in defence of the army that it was in revenge for the unprovoked and barbarous murders of American soldiers, that no officer of high rank had countenanced inhuman punishment, and that while the water cure was painful it did not cause death. This statement, however, was denied by the Democrats, who asserted that more than one Filipino had died under torture. It was also asserted by the Democrats that unnecessary cruelty had been displayed by high officers in conducting the campaign.

For a time the country was considerably aroused by the orders said to have been given to Major Waller by his superior officer, Brigadier-General Jacob H. Smith, who was in com

mand in Samar. Major Waller, of the Marine Corps, who commanded an expeditionary force in Samar, was accused of having wantonly murdered non-combatants, and when brought before a court martial pleaded in extenuation that he carried out the orders of General Smith, who directed him to make of Samar a howling wilderness, and to spare neither man, woman, nor child over the age of ten. Waller was said to have literally obeyed these orders, and in doing so violated the army regulations and the rules of civilised warfare. He was acquitted by the court martial on the ground that he had simply obeyed the orders given to him by his superior officer, and had he refused to carry them out he would have been guilty of disobeying the commands of his legal superior in the face of the enemy, which is punishable by death. When the evidence adduced by the court martial was made public, President Roosevelt ordered a court martial at Manila to try General Smith on charges of cruelty, which court martial in July found General Smith guilty, and the President reprimanded him and immediately placed him on the retired list. This action of the President was cited by the Republicans as evidence that the President would not countenance cruelty or disregard of the laws of civilised warfare, and was held by the Democrats as vindicating the charges they had brought against the army of excessive cruelty and unnecessary harshness. They believed that it would help them in the coming election.

They found, however, that they had mistaken the sentiment of the country. On August 22 President Roosevelt began a tour of the New England States, a tour which, it was announced in advance, was to be non-political, and in which the President would make no partisan addresses. During the course of that tour, which lasted three weeks, the President spoke several times a day, di scussing the duties of citizenship and the responsibilities of the United States. He paid special attention to the Monroe Doctrine; the obligation imposed on the United States, as a result of the war with Spain, to make Cuba prosperous by granting her special trade concessions; the duty of the United States to improve the material and moral condition of the Philippine Islands; and the necessity of curbing and properly controlling the trusts. It was noticeable to close observers that while the people followed with the greatest avidity whatever the President said about the trusts and the tariff, they were only languidly interested when he mentioned Cuba, and almost indifferent in regard to the Philippines.

The Democrats attempted to revive public interest in the Philippines, and to raise the cry of "Imperialism," which they believed would drive voters from the Republican party, and bring back to their own party those Democrats who opposed Mr. Bryan. The attempt was a lamentable failure. In all parts of the country, and especially in the West, there was a strong feeling in favour of Congress enacting legislation limiting