so far and so fatally committed itself, that the court could hardly have been expected to set the accused at liberty, as to do so would have covered the army generals and some ministers of State with confusion. The appeal of the prisoner's counsel to Emperor William of Germany and King Humbert of Italy to permit their military attachés who were in Paris in 1894 to testify before the Rennes court-martial was futile, as for State reasons they could not appear, and as, under the circumstances, the court could not have admitted or suffered itself to be influenced by testimony from such a quarter. The importance of their depositions, had they been permitted to appear, would no doubt have been vital to the accused, as the attachés are understood not to have known Dreyfus or to have received from him any treasonable documents. Thus the accused, with his counsel, had to be content with what defence- sadly handicapped as it was-it had so far been possible to make. How poor comparatively was the effect of this defence when set against the lies, villanies, forgeries, perjuries, and the devilish machinations of the army chiefs, brutally bent on torturing and eternally defaming a cruelly injured and innocent man—to save their own hypocritical face and the tarnished honor of France - every dispassionate and rightthinking man who has followed the case well knows. Dreyfus has again been condemned, but in the opinion of any sane man out of France has he been convicted?

Britain and the The relations between Transvaal England and the Transvaal continue strained, and war would seem, after all, to be more than a probability. Late accounts, it is true, indicate that the Boers are willing to meet English representatives in conference at Cape Town; but this, it is feared, is only to gain time for continued war preparations in the South African Republic, and to prolong a controversy in which neither side means to give way, or can really do so with due regard to the antagonistic interests involved. With his wonted directness and perhaps excusable impatience, Mr. Chamberlain charges President Kruger with shuffling; but the patriarchal head of the Boer Republic can hardly be blamed for fighting stubbornly for his own hand, especially when the odds are heavily against him and his

people, and his primitive community are threatened with submersion under the fast oncoming waves of alien immigration. In these practical modern times it may not be ideal statesmanship to haggle over concessions and trifle with ultimatums, particularly when put forward by a Power that means business and, in its regard for the weal and material interests of its subjects, is not to be trifled with or put off by the devices of paltering or of ill-concealed cunning. But allowance should be made -and on England's part we believe it has been made-for the hard and even pathetic lot of the Boers, driven by the force of circumstances to repeated "treks" to get out of the way of the on-treading Outlander, and, now that the last possible trek has been made, fain to make a firm stand for independence and the right to maintain their own racial integrity and even aloofness. It is to the pressure of their unfortunate situation that they have hitherto withheld from the Outlander the rights and liberties of citizenship, while still resisting, despite the menace of war, concessions in regard to the franchise which, they conclude, imperils their independence. If the Boers feel aggrieved and show it, in their obduracy and stubborn attitude, and in their anti-British hostility and sullenness, much—if not all—may be forgiven them.

But the picture has another and less exculpatory side. It is the view practically put forward by the Outlanders, who, as the toilers for their Dutch taskmasters and the enrichers of the once bankrupt Republic, have a right also to have their case stated and to make their voice heard. It is the view that takes us back historically to the troubles of 1881-84, when England interposed against the Zulu foes of the oppressing Republic and saved it from bankruptcy and overthrow. The conditions on which England then withdrew from the occupation of the country and gave the Boers their autonomy were that equal rights should be granted to white men of all nationalities- a pledge which the Boers distinctly granted but have practically and persistently failed to ful

ing from them of their rights as freemen, by the grievous taxation to which the English-speaking peoples in the Transvaal are subjected, and the iniquity of the dynamite impost,-a monopoly in Dutch hands which, it is affirmed, President Kruger and his misgoverning oligarchy use as a personal enriching fund and the secret means of putting the screw upon the unfortunate aliens who have made and who sustain the grasping Republic. It is these and like facts, which are only too well known to the British authorities, —not to speak of the hardships and injustice which the Outlanders have long borne, that have brought the Transvaal to the present crisis in its affairs; and not cupidity on the part of the English government, which has carried forbearance and moderation to the extreme in its diplomatic dealings with the Boers, and is unquestionably loth to take up the sword. But English forbearance is not to be construed as weakness; and President Kruger should be careful to recognize this and not indulge his stubborn humor too long.

British interests in South Africa, as we have previously remarked, are now too important, as well as too vast, to brook longer delay in the settling of this matter. Boer procrastination, moreover, only intensifies the war feeling in England and in the region of the trouble, and increases race antipathies, which, if exasperated too much, only bloodshed will quell. The situation in South Africa bears some resemblance to the state of affairs on this Continent during the Seven Years' War, popularly known among us as the French and Indian war. The question then was, Shall dominion in the New World be exercised by the French or by the AngloSaxon race?-in other words, Shall the lilies or the rose prevail? In like manner, though in a smaller issue, is the question asked in South Africa whether the dominant Power is to be British or Dutch? What the answer will be, no one can doubt; meanwhile the Boers have their day of grace, and they will be wise not to precipitate the inevitable, or, as a people, make their lot harder than it is.

As we go to press the trouble has reached a still more acute stage, the tokens of which are the dispatch of large bodies of British troops and a new military commander to the Cape, the exodus of the English from the Transvaal, and the summoning of the

British Cabinet. This action has been taken in consequence of the continued obduracy of President Kruger and his advisers at Pretoria, and especially in consequence of Boer unwillingness to admit imperial suzerainty or to confer with England as to the franchise and other concessions to the Outlanders save on the status of an independent, selfgoverning State. This is precisely what England will not, and cannot with national self-respect, agree to, and hence the further gravity of the situation. A loophole for further parley has, as we write, been opened by the cabled intelligence that the position taken by the Boers has been misinterpreted, and that the Transvaal government still desires to avoid a conflict and will accept a joint inquiry. latter refers to a proposed conference designed to satisfy England as to the bona fides of the concessions which the Transvaal agreed to make to the Outlanders; and on this the matter now rests, with the prospect, happily even at the twelfth hour, of peace.

The Kaiser

The

A Setback for To the indefatigable energy and patriotic ardor of the Kaiser Germany owes much of that commercial, industrial, and maritime development which in recent years has in her case been so phenomenal. Whatever may be thought of William II's personal idiosyncracies and his semi-feudal ideas of governing, there can be no question that he possesses many of the characteristics of a great modern ruler, ardently desirous to promote his country's wellbeing, and keenly alive to all that as a nation makes for her power and influence. Restless the Emperor may be, but he is active as well as alert for his own and his country's benefit; and especially is he eager to place Germany and the German name high on the roll of modern nations. Nor is his the eagerness of fuss without a motive and of activity which lacks either ability or power. Masterful as he is, and bound to assert himself as a real rather than a fainéant king, he is, however, sometimes reminded that he governs not wholly by divine right, but by the grace and humor of his people. The other day His Majesty had a rather brusque reminder of this when the Prussian Diet rejected a measure, vital to the country's commercial interests, and on which he had warmly set his heart. This was the

projected canal to unite the waters of the two chief German rivers-the Rhine and the Elbe. For a generation past the scheme had been repeatedly talked of, but nothing practical had come of it until it was taken up by the Emperor, actuated, no doubt, by the success of that other project which had long languished, but was now an accomplished fact-the water-connection between the Rhine and the Ems.

As a preliminary to the carrying out of the new and larger undertaking, a bill authorizing the construction of the canal was introduced in the Prussian Chamber and received the hearty support of both the Emperor and his ministers. Unfortunately, however, the Diet did not regard the matter with William's broad vision; indeed, it looked at the project from a narrow and local standpoint, seeing only the personal view of it and the great burden it would entail upon the section of the community which, it was claimed, would have least practical interest in carrying it through. In taking this provincial rather than a national view of the enterprise the Diet seems to have made a serious mistake, for the canal, it is asserted, is a necessity, and, were it built, would be certain to benefit the country sectionally and as a whole. It would, for instance, enable the iron and coal of Westphalia and Rhenish Prussia to be cheaply transported to the eastern half of the kingdom, while the agricultural produce of the east would be as cheaply sent in return to the western half. Whatever influences were at work, the scheme was indifferently regarded by the Chamber, and, after several ominous indications of hostility, the measure was at length overwhelmingly defeated. The rejection of the bill has been a severe blow to the Emperor, and is likely materially to alter his relations with his conservative ministry. What hope may be expected for the defeated measure from a reconstruction of the Cabinet, or from some alliance (distasteful as it must be to the Emperor) with the Liberals, it is as yet impossible to

to strengthen the personal influence of the Kaiser, and for this reason may withhold support to the measure. The Emperor, however, is not easily to be balked, and, in spite of the political parties, he is likely in this matter, as in much else on which he sets his heart, to have in the long run his own way.

Yacht Race

The International The fascination of yachting is, in the main, not known to the landsman, nor are the delights of sailing to be easily told in print. The pleasures and exhilaration of the pastime are matters mostly of personal experience. "To feel the heaving deck beneath your feet, to watch the swirling eddies curling away astern; to look aloft at the swelling sails and know that you have made the winds your servants, dangerous though they be and apt at times to overcome their master; to battle with and defeat the seething seas, depending often for your safety on the soundness of a timber or a strand of rope; and again to float lazily for days and perchance weeks, sailing always toward the dim, distant line dividing the sky and sea, these are the joys that the landsman may not know." The picture we have here culled and set before the reader may be a trifle highly colored, but the pleasures of yachting are real and genuine - to those especially who have been brought up by the sea; while the physical tonic and moral effect of the sport are not the least of its many and enduring attractions. It is the misfortune of yachting, as it is of all our amusements in these feverish, moneylusting days, that it has become in large measure a sport rather than a pastime, and that a great yacht race is now mainly a great betting affair and the lure chiefly of gamblers. This is true especially of international yacht races; though there are many, no doubt, who take interest in these noble contests from real love the sport rather than from love of lucre.

of

Thanks to Sir Thomas Lipton, we are once more on the eve of witnessing in American waters another great yacht-sailing contest, this time between the Columbia and the Shamrock, A double interest centres this year in the race, owing to the special sportsmanlike qualities, fair-mindedness, and affable bearing of the present Anglo-Irish challenger for the America's cup, and to the reported superiority of the notable Clyde-built yacht which Sir