and Giolitti, expressed their annoyance and surprise in their platform speeches.

The reopening of the Italian Chambers (Nov. 14) which occurred simultaneously with that of the French and Belgium Parliaments, was marked by an extremely modest Ministerial programme. Italy, according to the King's Speech, had abandoned the idea of occupying the harbour of Sammun on the coast of China. Her relations with foreign Powers were cordial, and the state of the finances was most satisfactory. The debates which ensued were long and sterile, although the members were in a more nervously excited state than usual. For this there was to some extent a material cause. The cupola of the hall in which the sittings were held was pronounced by the architects to be in a dangerous state, and the reading-room was temporarily fitted up as the Parliament chamber. Whenever the orders of the day presented any subject of possible excitement or interest, the deputies not noted for their assiduous attendance crowded the small room, which thus became charged with nervous electricity, of which, especially during the debates on Sicilian affairs, the explosions were frequent and violent.

The Maffia for the moment was uppermost in everybody's thoughts. The Government, with true military boldness, determined to probe to the root this association of malefactors. The glimpses of what was discovered, partial and intermittent, surpassed everything which the public either surmised or invented. It was asserted that for many years Sicily had not been governed by the legal authorities, but by a corporation of bold men who wielded the supreme power and enforced obedience by terrorism. Successive Governments, including that of Sgr. Rudini, had been obliged to come to terms with the unseen powers, and to admit into the management of public affairs the Maffiosi, not only as local mayors or simple advocates, but as Crown prosecutors, entrusted with the protection of public order. It had become impossible to obtain a conviction, especially in criminal cases, in any of the courts of the island; witnesses were terrorised in full court, and forced to withdraw or contradict their evidence. The Government, urged by the Chamber to put an end to this state of affairs, ordered the arrest of a Sicilian deputy, Sgr. Palizzolo, accused of being the principal author of Notarbartolo's death. At the same time it became evident that he had had accomplices in various positions, and of them Sgr. Fontana, one of the most important, was arrested. For a moment the Maffia was checkmated, and the proceedings of the trial were commenced, revealing a condition of anarchy hardly credible.

The closing weeks of the year were marked in the Chamber by a renewal of those obstructive manoeuvres for which the rules provided no remedy. The debates on the Decree Law promised to be prolonged beyond the year with which the law

itself expired. The new President, Sgr. Chinaglia, was not equal in energy and decision to some of his predecessors in the chair, and Sgr. Zanardelli may have recognised with some satisfaction that the post was not a sinecure. The one bright spot, however, was the financial situation. Sgr. Boselli, Minister of the Treasury, was able to announce that the Budget of 1898-9, showed a clear surplus of fifteen millions, due chiefly to an increase in the stamp revenue-in other words, to a general improvement in trade. As not unusually happened this condition was reflected in other ways. The bye-elections caused by the death or resignation of deputies, were, with the exception of those at Milan, generally favourable to the Moderates. In consequence of this altered tone of popular feeling, the Ministry decided to relax the stringency of the law, and to blot out as far as possible the memory of the riots of May, 1898, and before the year closed a general amnesty for political offences was pronounced. This act of conciliation included all offences against the law of public safety relative to public meetings, press offences, trade - union offences, assaults on public functionaries during the riots, and even attempts to organise resistance to the authorities or to overawe parliamentary freedom. At the same time the amnesty did not apply to offences against property, to persons tried and condemned in their absence who had not presented themselves to the authorities before the last day of the year. These reservations were generally disapproved, as intended to minimise the general good results expected from the act of grace.

CHAPTER II.

GERMANY AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

I. GERMANY.

THE first subject dealt with by the German Parliament in the year was a bill for increasing the Army. By this bill the strength of the Army on a peace footing was to be increased by 26,576 men between October 1, 1899, and the close of the financial year 1902, and the strength attained in the latter year was to remain the standard for the peace footing until 1904. Like its predecessor of 1893, the bill provided for a quinquennate, or in other words for fixing the peace establishment of the Army every five years; but the increase was in this case to be gradual, and its cost was to be spread over the period during which it was to be effected instead of being demanded at once. In introducing the bill the Minister for War observed that the Eirenicon of the Czar had made it certain that Germany would not within a measurable distance of time be attacked

by Russia. This consideration had materially altered the

military and political situation. Moreover, the armed strength of Germany had now been developed to such an extent and it reposed on so secure a basis that they could, perhaps, shake off nervous apprehensions and face the future with equanimity. Yet history taught them that the will of the mightiest monarchs was not able to alter the interests of a great nation or the conditions of its existence. If a nation meant to maintain its independence, it must possess the strength requisite for protecting its interests at any moment. If he looked around him

in the world he found that nowhere had there been a cessation of preparations for war. On the contrary, in view of the additions to the armies and navies of other nations the measure before them might well appear to be inadequate. Trusting, however, to the constant improvement in the quality of the Army, the Government had ventured to confine itself to its present proposals with regard to strength. The wars of recent years had taught the great lesson that everything favoured the side which had most carefully and longest prepared for war, and had kept pace with the developments of modern science in its armament. He referred particularly to the wars between China and Japan and between the United States and Spain, and also to the operations of the Anglo-Egyptian forces in the Soudan. One of the new measures introduced by the bill was the institution of three new army corps, and the War Minister explained that this was essentially a question of effective organisation. It had become clear that, in the event of war, the armed strength of the country would have to be divided into small armies, and even these small armies could not be handled with effect unless they were so organised that their management was not hampered by unwieldy masses like overgrown army corps. Now they had several army corps which were cessively strong, and the minister proceeded to justify in detail the new organisations and their territorial assignment for strategic and administrative reasons to Bavaria, Saxony and Hesse-Darmstadt. He next defended the proposed increase in the Prussian cavalry, which had remained stationary in point of numerical strength for thirty years. In spite of the assertions of many theorists that the importance of cavalry in modern warfare had diminished, he must insist that, in view of the cavalry masses beyond their frontiers, they must make themselves stronger in this arm. Turning to the contemplated increase in the artillery, tactics had undergone a great change since the time of Napoleon, whose plan was to keep masses of artillery in reserve to decide a doubtful battle. Now-a-days, it was imperative that the artillery should play an effective and extensive part in the combat from the very beginning, and that it should in all cases form, as it were, the "skeleton" of the line of battle. To be effective in this fashion the artillery must have a thorough and serviceable organisation, for they could not trust to improvisations at the eleventh hour.

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further defended the establishment of the howitzer batteries proposed in the bill. Their present artillery had a flat trajectory and was intended to sweep the whole field of battle; but where the enemy sought cover from artillery fire it was necessary to have the howitzers, with their curved trajectory, in order to seek him out—a task which would give the guns with flat trajectory too much trouble.

After justifying the new organisation of the railway, ballooning, and telegraph troops, the minister proceeded to explain the position of the Government with reference to the two-years' service system. Experience had not yet shown whether the shortened term of service now in force for the infantry could be permanently adopted. It was true that it enabled them to catch their recruits early, so that the men were available for a longer period of their best years as Reserves. But the system had at first left them with a very inferior class of men who chose or who had to remain for a third year of service with the Colours; and it had deprived them of the old class of third-year men, who furnished such admirable material for non-commissioned officers of the Reserve and of the Landwehr. The two-years' system also imposed very hard work on Army instructors. They were now going to try to remedy these disadvantages by offering to the men, as an inducement to remain with the Colours for a third year, the exemption for a corresponding period from their liability to be called out for training during their time with the Reserves. In the meantime (that is, till 1904) they would maintain the two-years' system. In conclusion, the War Minister gave some unfavourable statistics as to the number of those recruits who entered the service as convicted criminals. The numbers of this class had increased between 1882 and 1897 by 82 per cent.

The following interesting statement was also made by the Minister in the course of the debate as to the Armies of France and Russia: "The French Army has greatly improved in discipline and marching power, and is a match for the German Army, but its artillery is insufficient. The value of the Russian Army has also considerably increased. Not a single man had been withdrawn from the frontiers, but its guns are not yet adequate. As regards field guns, Germany's preponderance is so immense that she has nothing to fear for some time to come. The whole Russian Army is now armed with the new rifle, and the shooting of the Russian soldiers is considerably improved. The fire discipline of the French Army is excellent. The Lebel rifle is inferior to the German one in velocity; but, on the whole,, all the small-bore rifles are of the same value. The French term of service is not likely to be altered, since the one-year's service is a privilege granted to numerous classes, and would be abandoned if two years' service were introduced. A great deal has been done for the training of the higher French officers. It is probable that the French

will shortly increase their field artillery by 100 to 120 batteries. In Russia extensive reforms have been introduced during the past decade, and new Reserve brigades have been formed since 1897."

The bill was sharply criticised in the Budget Committee, especially by the Clericals, "the governing party" of the Reichstag, who ultimately proposed to accept only a portion of the increase demanded by the Government. Under this proposal the addition to the strength of the infantry was to be reduced by 7,000 men, the ten new squadrons of Meldereiter (cavalry for carrying despatches and orders) asked for by the Government were to be formed in new regiments instead of being embodied with the cavalry; and the completion of the new additions to the Army was to be postponed from the year 1902 to 1903. The proposal was adopted (March 8) by a majority of 19 to 6, the minority consisting of the Radicals and Social Democrats, who were opposed to any increase of the Army whatever. One of the most important of the Government demands that for an increase of the field artillery from 494 to 574 batteries, France having 494 batteries only-was left untouched, as was also those for the establishment of three army corps, and for the increase of the strength of the German cavalry which, reckoning the Meldereiter as separate corps, was from 472 to 482 squadrons. These were all very substantial additions to the strength of the Army, and the Clericals insisted on the peace strength of the infantry being raised only to 495,500 men, instead of to 502,506, as asked for by the Government, on the ground that the scarcity of agricultural labourers is increasing in consequence of the number of recruits now required both for the Army and Navy. When, however, the report of the committee was brought before the Reichstag, on March 14, both the Government scheme and that of the Clericals were rejected, the former by a majority composed of the Clericals and their allies, and the latter by one composed of the supporters of the Government, who had voted for the Clerical scheme in committee, thinking that the Government would accept it. The majority against the Government was composed of the Clericals, the Poles, the Radical Left, and the Social Democrats, who together mustered 209 votes against the 141 given by the Conservatives, the Anti-Semites, the National Liberals, and the moderate Radicals, in favour of the bill. This was a severe defeat for the Government, but Dr. Lieber, the leader of the Centre or Clerical party, while adhering to his proposal for a reduction of the increase demanded for the infantry, expressed his willingness to reconsider the question should experience show that the numbers for which his party were now prepared to vote were insufficient. As there was no prospect of obtaining a majority for the bill by a dissolution, the Government yielded, and the Chancellor, in the name of the Federal Council, accepted the amendments proposed by the Budget