Sheriff... Dr. Karl Liebknecht, the Social Democratic politician, is condemned at Leipzig to eighteen months' imprisonment in a fortress for publishing a pamphlet against militarism A general strike is proclaimed at Milan, in Italy.

Oct. 14.-The Queen gives a donation of six hundred guineas to the London Hospital The reply of the Council of the Railway Association to Mr. Bell is a rejection of the proposal for a joint conference Mr. Birrell, in reply to Mr. John Redmond, declines to make a public inquiry on the explosion at Glenahiry The Emperor Francis Joseph suffers from a severe attack of influenza.

...

Oct. 15.-A railway accident occurs near Shrewsbury; eighteen persons are killed on the spot and at least thirty injured A Conference on the unemployment of women dependent on their own earnings is held at the Guildhall An anti-tariff meeting is held at Sydney, at which Mr. Reid is the principal speaker.

Oct. 16.-The Board of Trade enquiry into the cause of the railway accident near Shrewsbury is opened ... The International Conference of Maritime Employers' Federation decides to appoint an international committee to formulate a practical plan for defence and co-operation between federations of different countries Mr. Keir Hardie is received at Simla by the Viceroy of India ... Mr. Taft formally opens the Philippine Assembly at Manila.

Oct. 17.-The Marconi service of wireless telegraphy from Cape B eton in Canada to Clifden in Ireland is formally opened Disastrous floods occur in many parts of the country; a terrific gale rages in the south and east of England A new Customs and Commercial Treaty for ten years is signed between Austria and Hungary The Peace Conference holds its tenth plenary sitting at the Hague and votes the final Act.

Oct. 18.-The Peace Conference at the Hague is formally closed Mr. Lloyd George, President of the Board of Trade, invites the chairmen of the principal railway companies to meet him to talk over the disputes with the railway men. The Midland Railway Company issue a manifesto to their employés

The King issues a Royal Warrant instituting a new honour for bravery in saving lives in mines and quarries; it is to be called the "Edward Medal for Bravery in Mines."

Oct. 1. The conference of delegates of railwaymen's trade unions on the question of united action is resumed at Manchester; resolutions are passed supporting the demand of the unions to be represented by their own representatives... In Canada it is decided that the Minister of Labour, Mr. Lemieux, shall go to Japan va England, in order to secure credentials from the Imperial Government.

Oct. 21.-The Postmaster-General appoints a committee to report on Post Office finance ... The London School of Tropical Medicine opens... The annual conference of Women Workers opens in Manchester ... A riot among the Chinese on the Rand occurs Nine Terrorists are executed in the Warsaw citadel... Mr. Watson, leader of the Labour Party in the Australian Parliament, announces his retirement from politics... A banking crisis occurs in New York; there is a run on the Knickerbocker Trust.

...

Oct. 22.-The French Chamber reassembles in Paris... The banking crisis in New York develops. The run on the Knickerbocker Trust continues. At Nashville, President Roosevelt reiterates his policy of punishing successful business dishonesty.

Oct. 23.-Lord Claud Hamilton, chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Company, issues a statement on the present crisis... The inquest on the victims of the Shrewsbury disaster concludes, with a verdict of "accidental death"... Mr. Deakin makes a speech on preferences in the Australian House of Representatives Mr. Lemieux starts from Canada on his mission to Japan . The trial of the libel action brought by Count Kuno Moltke against the editor of the Zukunft, Herr Harden, and generally known as the Berlin Court Scandal, begins in Berlin.

...

Oct. 24.-Mr. Cortelyou deposits £5,000,000 as security in New York banks to restore financial confidence; Mr. Morgan and Mr. Rockefeller also advance large deposits The L.C.C. issue the report of their Medical Officer up to March 31st, 1907

Oct. 26.-The King receives the Lords-Lieutenant of England and Wales and Scotland at Buckingham Palace re the territorial army The Duke of Connaught opens a miniature rifle range on the roof of the General Post Office, St. Martin'sle-Grand Confidence is reported to be returning in financial quarters in New York.

...

Oct. 28.-Lord Cromer receives the freedom of the City of London Captain E. T. W. Slade, R.N., is appointed Director of Naval Intelligence ... Mr. Churchill, M.P., arrives at Mombasa... The financial crisis in New York is practically ended. The annual conference of the National Free Labour Association is held in London ... The M.C.C. play their first match in Australia, beating the W. Australian team by an innings and 134 runs.

Oct. 29.-The King and Queen of Spain arrive at Buckingham Palace... Judgment is given in Berlin in the libel action brought by Count Moltke against Herr Harden, the editor of the Zukunft, who is acquitted, the Count being ordered to pay the costs... Mr. Schreiner, ex-Premier of Cape Colony, opens his political campaign.

Oct. 30.-The Prime Minister was presented with the freedom of Edinburgh The Budget of New South Wales is introduced by Mr. Waddell; the revenue was £13,406,000, the expenditure £12,831,000, and the surplus £1,471,000 M. Clemenceau assured a deputation that the French Government heartily concurred with the British Government in its support of the Channel Ferry Scheme A prominent agitator was arrested in Calcutta Thirteen persons are killed in a railway accident at Lahore The elections in St. Petersburg

...

...

and other large cities of Russia take place.

SPEECHES.

Oct. 5.-The Prime Minister, at Edinburgh, on his intended policy regarding the House of Lords Mr. Bell, at Middlesbrough, on the railwaymen's agitation. Oct. 8.-Mr. Haldane, at Terrant, and Lord Crewe, at Southport, support the views expressed by the Prime Minister on the House of Lords.

Oct. 9. Mr. Sydney Buxton, at Glasgow, testifies to the good results in the Post Office Department from the recognition of the employés associations.

Oct. 10. Mr. Lloyd George, at Cardiff, on disestablishment in Wales.

Oct. 19. Mr. Asquith, at Ladybank, defines the point at which Liberalism parts company with Socialism... Mr. Kipling, at Toronto, on Empire and the value of conferences between the various Colonies.

Oct. 21. Mr. Morley, at Arbroath, on India ... Sir Lauder Brunton, in London, on the need for a school of pathological anatomy,

Oct. 22.-Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, at Dunfermline, on the importance of social questions, which cannot be dealt with owing to the House of Lords.

Oct. 23.-Lord Rosebery, at Glasgow, on the Small Holders Bill for Scotland.

Oct. 29.-Mr. Asquith, at Newport, on the relations of the House of Lords to the British people.

Oct. 30.-Mr. Asquith, at Leven, on the work done by the Government Mr. Lloyd-George and Mr. Haldane at Rhyl.

(The Obituary appears on p. 544.)

B

I. THE WORLD-STAGE. RAZIL has this year made her début on the world-stage, and the débutante has acquitted herself with such brilliant success that the event demands universal attention.

The place selected as the stage for this first appearance was the Hague. Nor was the choice inappropriate. The central shrine of the Hague to which the reverent steps of millions turn generation after generation is the famous Mauritz Huis, where the Dutch preserve the greatest treasures of their Art. This precious reliquary, in which are kept the masterpieces of Rembrandt and Potter and Steen, and many another famous painter, was built in the seventeenth century by Count John Maurice of Nassau, at one time Governor of Dutch Brazil. In the sixteenth century, when empires were in the making, there was some doubt whether Brazil would be Portuguese or Dutch, or French, or English. For thirty yearsfrom 1624 to 1654-the Dutch reigned in Salvador, the then capital of Brazil, and extended their conquests to Pernambuco, Ceara, and Maranhao. It was the century of their great sea-captains, whose portraits look down grimly from the walls of the Mauritz Huis, which, almost alone, remains to testify to the fact that once there seemed an even chance that Brazil would be Dutch.

bably to be followed by a third, then it was evident that the future Parliament of the World State was in the making. From such an assembly no State like Brazil could stay away. So when, in 1905, the Tsar, acting on the initiative of President Roosevelt, who in his turn was prompted to action by the Inter-Parliamentary Union which met at St. Louis in that year, issued his invitations to all the sovereign States of the world to assemble at the Hague to discuss the rules of war and the improvement of the securities for peace, Brazil, together with all the rest of LatinAmerican States, accepted the invitation.

But when Brazil came to the Hague it was not to greet the august shade of her former Lords, but to take her proper place as an independent sovereign Republic in the Parliament of the World. She had been asked before in 1899, but the invitation had been declined. The time was not ripe. The moment was unpropitious. Brazil was too much absorbed in her own affairs to care to respond to the Tsar's appeal. But in 1907 circumstances had altered. The first Hague Conference might have been only a stroke in the water. But when a second was summoned, pro

The Conference was to have met in 1906. It was postponed for a year to meet the convenience of Brazil and her sister States. The Old World was kept waiting for twelve months because the New World was holding its Conference at Rio. The Pan-American Conference of 1906 had to be over before the All-the-World Conference could meet at the Hague in 1907.

When the delegates assembled in the Hall of the Chevaliers in the famous Binnenhof of the Hague, they represented all the independent Governments in the world with the exception of Abyssinia, whose Emperor declined to send a representative, Liberia, who had been overlooked in sending out the invitations, and Morocco. Costa Rica and Honduras sent no delegates. All the other sovereign States of the world were fully represented. The Russians represented Montenegro as well as their own country, and Mr. S. Perez Triana was nominated as delegate by the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Salvador. As a rule the delegations sent by each country were drawn exclusively from the subjects of that country. There were a few exceptions. China had an American among its delegates. Japan had an American as second delegate. The Siamese employed a Swiss in the same capacity, and the Per

sians a Belgian. But otherwise each delegation represented not only its Government but its nationality.

It was, therefore, before the most select audience in the world that Brazil had to make her début on the diplomatic parliamentary stage. Forty-four States had sent their picked men to the Hague to look after the interests of their respective countries, to acquit themselves as creditably as they could before the eyes of their fellows, and to agree, if possible, upon such improvements in international law alike for peace and war as the general consensus of the opinion of mankind recognised to be necessary.

Each delegation was, as a rule, presided over by the ambassador of highest rank and greatest reputation in his country's service. Sometimes, however, instead of an ambassador, a delegation was headed by a leading parliamentarian like M. Bourgeois or M. Beernaert, or an eminent judge like Sir Edward Fry. They were usually accompanied by one or more colleagues, sometimes named as plenipotentiaries, and sometimes not, who represented some form of distinction-juridical, political, or diplomatic. The Resident Minister accredited to the Hague was as often as not included in the delegation, but in such cases his duties were more social than political. Around the delegation proper were grouped military and naval attachés, technical delegates, jurists, secre

taries, and other persons, who, in their particular branch of public service, were regarded by their own Governments as among the most capable to be

found.

Some delegations had only two members, others had as many as twelve. The forty-four States were represented by over two hundred persons, who may fairly be described as men of the highest standing in their respective countries for character and ability and judgment. No one was appointed if he did not enjoy the respect of his fellow-men and the confidence of those in high places. The delegates, among whom the Brazilians came to take their place for the first time, may be regarded as the elect of the world called together to take counsel together on those things. which concern the world's peace.

The stage was central, the actors in the great worlddrama the stars of their respective companies, and the audience included the whole human race. It was an important occasion when Brazil made her début at the Hague.

How did she acquit herself?

That is the story which I, who was a spectator in the front seats, am now going to tell, deeming it a matter of no small historical interest and one which for the honour and glory of Brazil should be placed on record.