In Serbia the War Minister stated to the Skupshtina on February 23 that the losses of the Serbian Army during the war with Turkey were 5,000 dead and 18,000 wounded, and in the Bulgarian War 7,000 to 8,000 dead and 30,000 wounded. In both wars 2,500 died of their wounds, 11,000 to 12,000 from sickness, and 4,300 from cholera, mostly during the Bulgarian War. A treaty of peace with Turkey was signed on March 13, under which Serbia agreed not to make any distinction as regards the franchise between her new Mohammedan and Christian subjects in the annexed territories, and to allow former Ottoman subjects residing in them three years to decide whether they would remain of the Turkish nationality or accept the Serbian, during which they were not to be liable for military service. In June a Ministerial crisis occurred in consequence of a Government decree giving the civil authorities precedence over the military in the newly annexed provinces. This measure was strongly opposed by the military party, and the Premier, M. Pashitch, asked the King to dissolve the Skupshtina in order to give the people an opportunity of expressing their views on the matter. The King refused unless the decree was first rescinded, upon which M. Pashitch resigned, but, all attempts to form a coalition Cabinet having failed, he was reinstated (June 11). On June 24 the King left Belgrade for the baths at Vranya on account of ill-health, and before leaving delegated full royal authority to his son, the Crown Prince Alexander, for the period of the King's illness.

When Austria-Hungary declared the answer to her ultimatum to Serbia (p. 330) insufficient, and her Minister accordingly demanded his passports and left Belgrade on July 26, the Serbian troops were at once mobilised. Austria-Hungary declared war on July 28, and on July 30 the Serbians partly destroyed by explosion the bridge connecting Belgrade with the Hungarian town of Semlin and attempted some raids across the frontier which were repelled by the Austro-Hungarian frontier guards. The Austrian artillery replied by a bombardment of the upper and lower forts of Belgrade, in which they were assisted by their monitors on the Danube and the Save. The war in Serbia did not really begin, however, until August 12, when the Austrian Army crossed the Save and the Drina and captured Shabatz and Lesnica. War had meantime been declared by Serbia against Germany on August 6. On August 17 the Austrians continued their advance against the Serbians, the Croats in the Austrian Army, who are of the same race as the Serbians, but are Roman Catholics while the Serbians are "Orthodox" Greeks, specially distinguishing themselves in the fighting. The Austrians were repulsed, however, in a sanguinary battle in the valley of Iddar on August 16 to 19, and had to retire to Shabatz and Lesnica. The fighting in these engagements was stated to have been much fiercer and more sanguinary than any in the recent Balkan Wars. On August 26 Shabatz was retaken by the Serbians, but meanwhile an attack made by them on Wyszegrad and Rudo, in Bosnia, had been repelled with great loss on August 20 and 21. On September 8 the Austrians were defeated in an attempt to cross the Drina near Sacha, and on the 14th the Serbians captured Wyszegrad; but notwithstanding the desperate efforts made both by them and the Austrians to penetrate into the enemy's country neither had for some time any success. Another sanguinary battle, which lasted three days, was fought on the road to Valjevo on September 15 to 18, but with no decisive result. The first effective attack was made by the Austrians down the Morava; it began on November 9 and ended in the occupation of Valjevo, the former headquarters of the Serbian Army, on November 15, and the capture after much violent fighting of Belgrade on December 2. On December 3, however, fresh troops were brought up by the Serbians,[21] which inflicted a heavy defeat on the Austrians, after six days' fighting over a front of more than sixty miles; on December 8 Valjevo was retaken, the Austrian retreat became a rout, and the Serbians re-entered Belgrade, after another battle in which the Austrians were stated to have lost 60,000 killed and wounded.

On September 19 Serbia declared that she would not conclude peace alone and would not act separately from the Triple Entente.

In Montenegro the Skupshtina was opened after a general election by the King on February 11. He said in the Speech from the throne that though "the snatching of Skutari from Montenegro was an incurable wound in every Serbian heart" the Peace of Bucharest had laid the foundations for a new order of things in the Balkans and had secured Montenegrin national interests. "Further national successes," he continued, "will depend solely upon constant joint effort with Serbia and upon traditional loyalty to our powerful Russia." Accordingly, when Serbia was attacked by Austria-Hungary, Montenegro mobilised her army at the request of the King of Serbia for her assistance. This entente cordiale between the Kings of Serbia and Montenegro had not long been established, the two States having been for some time estranged by an attempt of Serbian subjects, with the alleged assistance of the Crown Prince of Serbia, on the life of the King of Montenegro similar to that which had just been made, with fatal results, on the lives of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife (A.R., 1908, p. 335). The two Balkan Wars, in which Serbians and Montenegrins fought side by side, had to some extent wiped out the memory of old quarrels, and the propaganda for a union of the two countries was now equally strong in them both, though it was not much to the taste of the astute and ambitious King Nicholas, who had hoped before the war that he and not King Peter would be the ruler of Serbia as well as of Montenegro. This, after the Serbian victories, and in view of the far greater material prosperity of Serbia, had now become impossible. The Montenegrins who fought in the war and were treated with special consideration by the Serbians, and especially those who had come from the United States to join their countrymen against the Turks, and found their country as backward in all the arts of civilisation as when they had left it, while the Serbians had made great material progress, were among the most ardent advocates of the movement for a union of their people with Serbia. On the other side, such a union would gratify Serbia's dearest wish—for a port on the Adriatic; and the great popularity of the aged Montenegrin King was the only obstacle to such a union, the Crown Prince Danilo not having gained any sympathisers either in Serbia or in Montenegro.

Montenegro, as Serbia's ally, declared war against Austria-Hungary on August 3. She made several attempts to invade Bosnia together with the Serbians, but without success.

CHAPTER IV.
LESSER STATES OF WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE.

I. BELGIUM.

Until the abrupt violation of Belgian neutrality by the German armies on August 3 the political antagonisms of Clericals and Liberals and of Flemings and Walloons seemed to be growing more acute. The German invasion, with its almost incredible atrocities, swept away the memory of these feuds. The Belgian nation saw all but a small fraction of its land swept by the invaders, and either found refuge and hospitality in Holland, Great Britain, and to some extent in Switzerland, or became dependent for its very subsistence on the charity of the people of the United States. But it did not flinch in its determination to maintain its independence, and at the close of the year it was gallantly aiding the resistance of the Allies to the German advance on Calais and Northern France.

When the year began the Chambers were still debating the Bill for subsidising voluntary schools, and the Flemish Nationalists in both the Liberal and Clerical parties were endeavouring (unsuccessfully, as it proved) to amend it so as to promote the spread of their own tongue at the expense of French. But another question arose which tended to injure the Government. Towards the end of January a severe frost closed the waterways and blocked the State railways with their traffic. The efforts made to cope with the block showed grave defects in the management and the equipment of the lines, and the Central Industrial Committee of manufacturers and traders formally complained to the Minister of the Interior that factories had been stopped and orders and consignments diverted to foreign countries and ports. Politics were said to influence the management, and the financial administration was condemned as defective and unintelligible. A scheme of reorganisation was contemplated, under which the Railway Budget would be rearranged and the management of the system assigned to a Board of fifteen paid members, Senators, Deputies, and State officials being ineligible. This Board would be under the supervision of a Council of seven members, chosen from and by the Parliament, and subordinated to the Minister of Railways. But the scheme was left over till a convenient season.

After much debate and some critical situations, the Schools Bill finally passed the Chambers on May 20, thus terminating the struggle begun by M. Schollaert in 1911. The Liberals and Socialists in the Senate formally denounced the measure as unconstitutional, but declined to take part in the division. The debates on it had crowded out some measures of social reform, but a Bill passed the Chamber providing for the insurance against old age, sickness, or premature disablement of all employed persons, including such State or municipal officials as were not already provided for by pension or disablement funds. But all persons were exempt whose income exceeded 2,400 francs (96l.) annually, as also home-workers with more than one employer. As in Great Britain, the funds were provided by payments from workmen, employers, and the State.

This Bill was hurried through before the elections for the renewal of half the Chamber (May 31), the representatives affected being those of East Flanders, Limburg, Hainaut, and Liège. The Ministry had offended its rural supporters by the new taxes of 1913, and by making military service and school attendance compulsory, and the Moderate Liberals had begun to return to their party, which they had left in 1912 owing to its coalition with the Socialists, now dissolved. Thus the Government majority in the Chamber fell from sixteen to twelve. They lost two seats to the Liberals, who lost one, however, to the Socialists. The Chamber now numbered ninety-nine Clericals, forty-six Liberals, forty Socialists, and two Christian Democrats, and the Ministerial votes in the four provinces amounted to some 570,000, while those of the Opposition—Liberals, Socialists, and Christian Democrats—were some 760,000. Assuming that the party strengths in the other provinces had remained constant since 1912, it was estimated that a Government majority in that year of 83,000 had now been converted into a minority of 7,000. The three Opposition groups, however, could scarcely have formed a coalition, but the Ministerialists had for some years showed signs of cleavage, and there were rumours that the Government were about to appeal to the Flemish vote by either substituting Flemish for French as the language of the University of Ghent or establishing a Flemish University there along with the French one; and M. de Broqueville indicated (at Turnhout, July 5) that the Senate might be invited to amend the Insurance Bill. But all domestic disputes were effaced by the war.

The growing wealth of the kingdom had been shown by an official return issued at the end of March, giving the average annual investment for the past four years in shares or debentures of companies as 870,000,000 francs, of which 450,000,000 francs had been put into Belgian companies engaged in business abroad—mainly in South America, Russia, and the Congo State. Belgium had now definitely joined the group of "creditor nations"—Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Though the violation of Belgian neutrality astounded the world and even upset the defensive scheme of the French Government, there had been ominous signs earlier in the year, which had attracted little notice. Thus the Stavelot-Malmedy Railway, crossing the German frontier, was opened in January without ceremony, for fear of indiscreet allusions by the speakers at the opening festivities to a possible invasion; there was some anxiety as to the fortification of Flushing (A.R., 1913, p. 364), and also as to the undefended character of the frontier of Dutch Limburg, a province which overlies part of Belgium; and in July it was reported that more troops were being sent to Hasselt and to the entrenched camp of Beverloo. Later it became known that King Albert had pressed for the reform in military service effected in 1913, and that in November of that year he had been convinced by a conversation with the German Emperor that that potentate would no longer resist the German war party (French Yellow Book, No. 6). Moreover, military measures to be taken in the event of a German violation of Belgian neutrality had been worked out in 1908 between the British Military Attaché at Brussels, Colonel Barnardiston, and the Belgian General Staff, which had previously worked out a corresponding plan with the General Staff of France. The German Government discovered evidence of this after the occupation of Brussels, and alleged it as a proof of British perfidy, though the plans were purely contingent on German action.[22]

Apprehending danger, the Belgian Government decided to call up three classes of reserves (July 29), and two days later to mobilise—a step which somewhat surprised the British Minister at Brussels. On July 29 the German Chancellor told the British Ambassador at Berlin that German action in Belgium depended on that of France, whom the German Government believed to be massing troops at Givet. Thereupon the British Government asked the French and German Governments whether they were prepared to respect Belgian neutrality so long as no other Power violated it, and asked Belgium whether she were prepared to remain neutral. France and Belgium gave satisfactory assurances; Germany did not (p. 178). Meanwhile the French Minister at Brussels, M. Klobukowski, had repeated to M. Davignon, the Belgian Foreign Minister, that French troops would not invade Belgium, even if massed on the frontiers, and Herr von Below-Saleske, the German Minister, had repeated to M. Davignon an assurance given by the German Chancellor in 1911, to the effect that Germany did not intend to violate Belgian neutrality, but that to say so publicly would give France an advantage in arranging her plan of operations (July 31). He repeated this, though only as his personal opinion, on August 2; but at 5 P.M. on that day he presented an ultimatum from his Government, demanding that, in view of the massing of French troops near Givet, Belgium should observe an attitude of friendly neutrality towards Germany, and allow German troops to pass through her territory; Germany would in return maintain the independence of Belgium and her possessions, but, in the event of a refusal, she would treat Belgium as an enemy. Twelve hours were given for a reply. A Council of State was at once held, and, after some hours' discussion, a reply drafted by MM. Hymans and Van den Heuvel, was finally decided on at 4 A.M. (Aug. 3). It was presented by 7 A.M., and was a dignified and eloquent refusal. The German Government meantime had sent a Note announcing that the French attack on Germany had begun, and at 6 A.M. on August 4 sent another, announcing that a refusal would be disregarded, and on August 4 intimated that as Belgium had declined her "well-intentioned proposals," they must be carried out by force of arms in view of the French menaces.[23] King Albert on that day addressed the Belgian Parliament, amid a scene of patriotic enthusiasm, and urged a united and stubborn resistance. "A nation which defends itself," he said, "commands the respect of all. Such a nation cannot perish." The union of the nation was marked by the appointment of M. Vandervelde, the Socialist leader, to be a Minister of State. Meanwhile the King had telegraphed a personal appeal for aid to King George V., and had received a reply assuring him of British support to protect the independence, integrity, and neutrality of Belgium. A moratorium was declared; fresh classes of recruits were called up; some 53,000 sappers and navvies were set to dig trenches in the wide spaces between the Liège forts; and Belgium prepared for defence.

Meanwhile the Germans were pressing on. On August 3 they entered Belgian territory at Gemmenich, near Aix-la-Chapelle, Stavelot and Francorchamps, just south of Spa, Dolhain, between Verviers and Herbesthal, and at Visé, on the Meuse between Liège and Maastricht. Their front extended from Visé southward, as far as Luxemburg. At Visé they were fired on by civilians, and the town was subsequently burnt; and on the night of August 4 they attacked the forts round Liège. They advanced in close order, and suffered enormous losses; but by August 6 they had silenced two forts and had vainly asked for an armistice to bury their dead. But passing through the gap thus made, they occupied Liège itself on August 9.

The Belgian resistance had amazed the world. The Germans had not expected it, for they had come without adequate supplies or heavy guns; and on August 9 their Government appealed vainly through that of the Netherlands to the Belgian King and Government, urging them, after their heroic resistance, to spare Belgium further suffering, and declaring itself ready for any compact with Belgium compatible with its conflict with France.

The Germans now came into contact with advanced posts of the Belgian Army, which held a line running from Namur through Ramillies, Tirlemont, and Diest. They were repulsed at Hasselt, Eghezee, and Diest, and Haelen (Aug. 12 and 13), but took Huy after a bombardment. But though they were thus unexpectedly checked, their vast numbers proved irresistible. There was a short lull while they were coming up; but on August 17 the Belgian Government hastily removed to Antwerp; the last forts round Liège fell on August 19; on August 18 the Germans entered Tirlemont, on the 19th they bombarded Louvain, and next day camped outside Brussels for the night. That day (Aug. 20) M. Max, the Burgomaster, had issued a proclamation warning the population against panic, advising them to give no information to the invaders, and promising that he, as Burgomaster, would stand by them. He met the Germans at their entrance, and declared the city undefended; they imposed a levy of 200,000,000 francs on it, and of 450,000,000 francs on the province of Brabant.

Though the French General Staff had regarded a German advance through Belgium as possible, it had made no provision against it till August 2; but it then directed its principal efforts to strengthening the northern section of the French front, and awaited the concentration of the British Expeditionary Force. Meanwhile, however, French troops drove the Germans from Dinant, after a fierce battle. The main German Army (some 600,000 men) having reached Brussels, marched southwards towards Charleroi and Namur. On August 20 the French advanced towards the Sambre. The centre of the Allied Army comprised two armies, the left a third, reinforced to the extent of two army corps, a corps of cavalry, the reserve divisions, and the British Expeditionary Force (p. 189). The French were beaten back on August 22, the Germans, after heavy losses, reaching and crossing the Sambre between Charleroi and Namur, and constraining the British force, by their superior numbers, to retreat from Mons south-westwards into France (p. 190). Meanwhile the Germans had been overrunning northern Belgium; they had occupied Louvain on the 19th after a fierce fight, Alost on the 21st, and concentrated before Antwerp next day; but were driven back from Malines by a sortie of the Antwerp garrison. And, after failing to take the forts at Namur, the Germans had overcome them by bringing up their heavy siege artillery, of 42 centimetres calibre, while the Belgian field force defending it were awaiting their attack. They placed guns in position beyond the range of the Belgian guns, and, after a tremendous bombardment of ten hours, the forts were wrecked. Namur fell suddenly and unexpectedly on August 24; and on that night a Zeppelin airship dropped bombs on Antwerp, doing much damage.

In the war of 1870 the Germans had severely repressed civilian attacks on their troops; and their standard manuals of warfare recommended terrorism. This was now carried out to the full. Infuriated by the unexpected Belgian resistance, they killed wounded men, fired on the Red Cross, violated women and little girls, mutilated some of their victims, and even made Belgian civilians of both sexes march in front of them as a screen. But besides these atrocities, which were not repressed by the commanders, the latter deliberately gave up towns and villages to destruction and plunder on the ground—which was usually unsubstantiated—that their troops had been fired on by the inhabitants. Visé was burnt on August 15, Aerschot four days later, the young son of the Burgomaster, it was stated, having shot a German officer; after their defeat at Malines they retreated on Louvain, burning the villages en route; they apparently fired on one another in entering Louvain, and charged the civil population with attacking them; as a punishment they bombarded the town, looted it, and then set fire with hand grenades to the houses that had escaped, destroying the Cathedral, the University Buildings, and the famous Library, with a multitude of priceless MSS., including much early Celtic literature; and they grossly maltreated a number of priests, including two Spaniards and an American. Dinant was sacked (Aug. 22-25) without assignable provocation. Many of the men were shot deliberately, and 1,200 houses burnt out of 1,400; a similar fate had befallen Andenne (Aug. 20-21) for equally unintelligible reasons. These atrocities, unmatched in Europe, except perhaps in the Near East, for nearly three centuries, finally turned the mass of European and American opinion against Germany, and seemed likely to make reconciliation impossible for many years after the war.[24]

For the first four weeks of September the Belgian Army was acting as a screen to Antwerp, mainly in the district between that city and Malines and Termonde. This latter place was bombarded and plundered on September 4, and deliberately destroyed next day; but the Belgians defeated the Germans on September 5 by opening the dykes on them, and so capturing many prisoners. From September 9 to 13 there was heavy fighting round Malines as the result of a sortie from Antwerp, intended to hamper the German advance of reinforcements through Belgium to France, and the main line of communication between Brussels and Liège by Louvain and Tirlemont was cut, thus delaying the inrush of the German troops. But eventually the superior German numbers drove the Belgians back. Again on September 25 the Belgians repulsed the Germans at Audeghem near Termonde, and that place and Malines changed hands more than once. But Malines was finally occupied by the Germans on September 7. The Germans now having brought up their heavy siege artillery opened fire on September 28 on the outer forts of Waelhem and Louvre-St. Catherine (two or three miles north of Malines) and destroyed them by September 30. Two days later the Belgians were driven by German artillery fire from the shallow and hastily dug trenches they had occupied in rear of these forts to new positions on the other side of the River Nethe, their front extending from near Boom eastwards to Lierre. Next day the German attack on this front developed; the neutral Legations began to leave; but the defenders were encouraged by the arrival of a British Marine Brigade under General Paris, which was sent into the trenches at Lierre and repulsed a German attempt to cross the Nethe, but the German artillery forced back the defenders, and on Monday afternoon, October 5, the bulk of the Belgian Army was compelled to retire westwards towards Eecloo and Ghent. Two British Naval Brigades arrived subsequently (p. 220) and assisted in the defence; but the Germans forced their way across the Nethe, and captured Lierre (Oct. 6); the remaining Belgians and British fell back on the inner ring of forts, and the King and the Allies' Legations withdrew to Ostend. To cut off the Belgian withdrawal, German troops attempted to cross the Scheldt along the line from Termonde to Wetteren, but succeeded after fierce fighting only on October 7, when it was too late. On that day General von Beseler summoned the city to surrender, and on its refusal bombarded it; and on the following night, after destroying quantities of stores, including much petrol, and disabling the German merchant steamers interned in the harbour, the remaining British and Belgian forces withdrew towards Ostend; but many of the First Naval Brigade were captured or crossed the frontier into Holland, and a portion of the Marine Brigade had to fight its way through the Germans at Morbeke. On October 9 the city was occupied by General von Beseler's troops. Four German Army Corps were stated to have taken part in the attack. The fall of the city caused the utmost enthusiasm in Germany, and General von Beseler received the Iron Cross. The refugees were estimated at upwards of 400,000.

From Antwerp the Belgian Army retreated in the first instance on Ostend, its retreat being immediately covered by 8,000 men of the British Naval Brigade and 6,500 French bluejackets, and, farther off, by the British force under Sir Henry Rawlinson, operating in the neighbourhood of Ghent (p. 222).[25] But the Germans, after severe fighting, occupied Ghent on October 12; next day the Belgian Court and Government left Ostend (which the Germans occupied October 16) and proceeded by sea to Havre, where the suburb of St. Adresse became the temporary capital of Belgium. The Germans now occupied Bruges and Zeebrugge, strongly defending the latter place with a view to its conversion into a base for submarines; the Belgian Army, now reduced to some 60,000, at first had been directed to make a stand in French territory, but eventually took up a position extending along the canalised Yser, from Nieuport-Bains on the Channel by Lombaertzyde to Dixmude; from the last-named place to Ypres and the French border at Ménin the Allies' line was held by French forces and by Sir Henry Rawlinson's troops. On October 17 the German front in Belgium extended from Ostend through Thielt and Roulers to near Ménin; and their primary aim was to capture Dunkirk and Calais as bases for an attack on England. Their direct route thither was blocked by the Belgian Army in the Battle of the Yser (Oct. 16-Nov. 2) in which some French troops, including marines and territorials, took part. Three points in the front were of special importance—the village of Lombaertzyde, a bend of the river near Tervaete, projecting towards the German front, and Dixmude. After two days' fighting, the Belgian advanced posts were driven back (Oct. 10-19); for the next four days the Belgians, now behind the Yser, were fiercely attacked, those in the salient at Tervaete being enfiladed by German heavy artillery; on the night of October 22 the Germans crossed the Yser at Tervaete, and the Belgians, though reinforced and partly relieved by a French force, the 42nd division, were gradually driven back (Oct. 23-30) to a front behind the railway from Nieuport to Dixmude, two or three miles from the Yser. Reinforced again on October 31, but forced back by overwhelming numbers, they opened the dykes, flooded the land with sea-water, and gradually forced the Germans back across the Yser, except from a few isolated farms among the flooded land, which were fiercely and repeatedly contested for some time. On November 16 the Germans fell back from the left bank of the Yser Canal; and for some weeks there was little change in the positions, but in December there was a renewal of activity, and on Christmas Day the Belgians were again on the right bank of the Yser.

During the Battle of the Yser and for some time afterwards—altogether from October 17 to November 9—the Belgians were supported on the left by a British squadron under Rear-Admiral Hood, consisting at first of the river monitors Humber, Mersey, and Severn (p. 224), the light cruisers Attentive and Foresight, and some destroyers, and subsequently reinforced from time to time by the battleship Venerable and a number of older cruisers and sloops, carrying heavier guns, which bombarded the German troops along the coast and prevented them from advancing on Nieuport by land, while precluding any effort to do so by sea. Machine-gun detachments were landed, German submarine attacks were repelled, and on October 30 the Admiral led a French destroyer flotilla into action off Lombaertzyde. The arrival of French reinforcements and the flooding of the country rendered further bombardment unnecessary; and the Germans, instead of showing themselves in the open, were driven to construct hidden artillery defences in the sand dunes along the coast. Some of the British ships, among them the Amazon, Mersey, Wildfire, and Vestal—the two latter old sloops of war—were damaged, and there were some British casualties from the Germans' shrapnel and heavy guns. In all thirty British vessels took part, including two submarines, and five French destroyers. The Germans were again bombarded at Westende by a British squadron on December 16; but a month earlier their efforts to reach Dunkirk and Calais by the coast route had been definitely checked by the Belgians—supported by French marines, bluejackets, and territorials on land, and by the British and French squadron at sea. Their attempts to reach the coast through Belgian territory farther south, round Ypres, had meanwhile been frustrated by the British and French forces, and the year closed amid signs that they were now on the defensive, and with a reasonable hope that they would be driven back by the Allied Forces in the spring.

Throughout the war King Albert acted as Commander-in-Chief of his Army and displayed the utmost heroism. He was visited by King George V. on December 4 (p. 245) on the only fragment of Belgian territory not occupied by German troops. The Queen brought her children to England in August, but soon returned to her country.

A Belgian Mission visited the United States in August and September, and had an excellent reception from both people and Government. Much was done to shelter and provide for the 200,000 refugees in Great Britain and the 500,000 in the Netherlands, and for the comparatively small numbers which reached Switzerland; and those who remained in Belgium were actually saved from starvation by philanthropic effort from the United States, directed by an American Commission, and largely administered by Rhodes scholars from Oxford. Belgium had earned the gratitude of the non-Germanic world. Her first resistance to the invaders gave time for the British and French Armies to concentrate, the defence of Antwerp held back forces which would otherwise have been hurled at the Allies on the Aisne, and the battle of the Yser saved Calais and Dunkirk. The Allies were firmly resolved that no peace should be concluded which did not secure the Belgian people all the reparation possible for their tremendous losses, and that they should receive a due recognition of their heroic resistance.

II. THE NETHERLANDS.

Since the formation of a non-party Cabinet in August, 1913, political conflict had been suspended; and for the first seven months of the year the country had little history. In January a Royal Commission was appointed to devise a settlement of the schools question, which had been the subject of repeated controversies since 1878. It was understood that, while regard was to be paid to the interest of denominational schools, the existing State schools would be left untouched. An attempt to settle another controversial question of long standing was made by the Royal Commission on Proportional Representation, whose Report (issued in June) recommended a complicated modification of the Belgian system, treating the whole country as a single constituency, but providing for the representation of localities by allowing voters to indicate their preference for particular candidates on the list put forward by their respective parties. An elaborate and intricate method of determining the successful candidates was also recommended, but the Report was not acted on during the year. A great demonstration in favour of equal suffrage for both sexes had been held in February at Amsterdam by the extreme Liberals and Social Democrats. The heavy cost of social legislation, especially the old-age pensions, necessitated increased direct taxation and an addition to the excise duty on beer. The creation of a new Navy for colonial defence was also proceeded with (A.R., 1913, p. 365). The anxiety set up in France and Belgium by the projected fortifications at the entrance to the Scheldt (A. R., 1913, p. 364) was enhanced early in the year by the announcement that the new fort would not, as had been expected, be situated on a shoal opposite Flushing, where it would have prevented the occupation by an enemy of that town or the coast opposite, but would be placed higher up the Scheldt: so that it might conceivably serve to block that river against the approach of a fleet sent to relieve Antwerp in the event of the violation of Belgian neutrality. Just before the war broke out, again, it was stated that the German Vulkan Company, which owned a huge shipyard at Stettin and was controlled by a well-known millionaire, Herr Thyssen, had acquired a site for a harbour on the Nieuwe Waterweg, one of the chief approaches to Rotterdam. This it was feared might ultimately be used as a German naval base. Questioned on the subject in the House of Commons, Sir E. Grey stated that he was informed that the place would only serve for the transfer of iron ore from sea-going ships to river barges. But anxieties as to German influence in Holland were swept away by the events of the war.

On the outbreak of the war the Government issued a declaration of neutrality (Aug. 3); it had already mobilised its army, to the extent of some 125,000 men, with remarkable efficiency and speed. The export of coal, food, horses and vehicles was prohibited, and an opening of the dykes was contemplated so as to protect the land frontier of the "Holland Fortress," or defended area of the kingdom, if necessary, by inundation. This, however, was not done, since no attempt was made to violate Dutch territory—except, indeed, that a German airman dropped bombs on Maastricht, probably by mistake. The financial disturbance set up was serious for a time; there was a run on the savings banks, and a tendency to hoard coin. The Post Office Savings Bank exercised its right to defer payments to depositors for a fortnight—a step which caused some comment. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was closed, and a Bill was passed empowering the Bank of the Netherlands to reduce the proportion of specie it was bound to hold against liabilities to 20 per cent. Small paper money was also created, in the form of "silverbons" of one, two and a half, and five florins, and fresh silver was rapidly coined; but some of the towns issued their own "silverbons," to make good the lack of change. A Credit Bank was formed by the retail traders, to enable them to meet the demands of manufacturers and wholesale dealers for payment in cash, and arrangements were made for advances by the Bank of the Netherlands on approved security, under a guarantee from a group of banks against possible loss. A Bill was passed in September, after considerable opposition, enabling the courts to extend the time allowed for payment of debt. The Bourse was placed under Government supervision. A loan of 275,000,000 florins (about 22,000,000l.) was issued in November, subscription being compulsory on persons whose fortunes exceeded 75,000 guilders (about 6,500l.).

The Queen's Speech at the opening of the States-General (Sept. 14) appealed confidently to the nation to avoid endangering neutrality in trade and traffic, and expressed satisfaction at the success of the mobilisation and the union of the people, noting also some improvement in certain branches of trade.

The war, however, did grave injury to industry, notably to the Amsterdam trade of diamond cutting, and to shipping, and food prices rose sharply. Moreover, the country was burdened with the support of some 1,560 British marines and bluejackets and some 22,000 Belgian soldiers who accidentally entered Dutch territory after the fall of Antwerp, besides half a million Belgian refugees. But the burden was borne nobly, and though there was an active German propaganda, the fate of Belgium estranged Dutch sympathy from the German cause.

Luxemburg. The visit of the King and Queen of the Belgians (April 27-29) was entirely successful, and their Majesties received a most cordial welcome. It was thought likely to open the way to closer commercial connexion between the two countries, thus tending to counterbalance the growth in the Grand Duchy of German industrial and trade interests. A projected visit from the Queen of the Netherlands in August was prevented by the war.

The general election, held in June, was fought mainly on the School Law, condemned by the Bishop and clergy, and was a great success for the Government. To some extent, too, it was said to be a demonstration against German influences.

On Saturday evening, August 1, a small body of German troops arrived in motor cars at Trois Vierges, and seized it, but were presently called back as having exceeded their instructions. Next morning, however, a trainload of German soldiers reached Luxemburg itself, seized the station and the bridges on the lines to Trèves and Spa, and proceeded to the barracks, thus violating the neutrality guaranteed by the Powers by the Treaty of London, 1867. But the far more conspicuous case of Belgium drew off attention from this German outrage. The Grand Duchess and the authorities protested, but in vain. For the rest of the year the Grand Duchy was occupied by German troops; and it was, for a time, the residence of the Emperor. Swiss papers stated that numerous citizens were arrested at the instance of German residents, but, as no resistance could be made to the Germans, there were no cruelties. The Grand Duchess was very active in Red Cross work. An indemnity was paid by Germany of 1,600,000 francs, of which 1,283,000 represented damage done to crops and real property, and the remainder the use of roads and public buildings by German troops. It was said to be quite inadequate. The civil administration was allowed to go on under the native authorities, but there was a strict German censorship of the postal, telegraphic, and telephonic services.

III. SWITZERLAND.

Before dealing with the great difficulties imposed on Switzerland by the European War a brief summary must be given of domestic politics during the first seven months of the year. In the spring session the Federal Legislature completed the revision of the factory law, passed the scheme of reorganisation of the Federal Council, and decided to institute a Federal Administrative Court. The National Council had pronounced by a large majority against the Initiative demanding the establishment of proportional representation; but another Initiative, aiming at the prohibition of the games of chance permitted in the Casinos at tourist centres, obtained the requisite number of signatures required for its submission to a popular vote.

The National Exhibition at Berne, opened auspiciously on May 15, was a superb collection of manufactures, of works of art—which gave rise to much discussion—and of exhibits of all sorts representing the actual condition and social and industrial development of the Swiss nation. On July 7 the King of the Belgians visited Berne and was received by the Federal Council. He joined the Queen in the canton of Vaud, and then went on to the Alps of the Valais.

The elections and popular votes in the various cantons made no appreciable difference in the position of parties, or in policy, but in two cantons—Ticino and Uri—financial mismanagement entailed serious consequences. In the former the failure of the Credito Ticinese, of the Banco Cantonale, and of a third and private banking establishment involved losses estimated at 40,000,000 fr. (1,600,000l.) and the arrest of several prominent persons. It necessitated the intervention of a Syndicate of Swiss banks, formed under the auspices of the National Bank. In Uri the Savings Bank, guaranteed by the canton, had invested several million francs in industrial enterprises, and almost the whole of this sum was lost.

Early in July the canton of Geneva celebrated the centenary of its admission to the Swiss Confederation. Of this memorable celebration the climax was the representation in a large and specially constructed theatre of a pageant, arranged by MM. Daniel Baud-Bouy, A. Malsch and Jacques Dalcroze, entitled "La Fête du Juin."

The Federal elections, it may here be added, took place at the end of the year. By common consent they were uncontested, except in a few districts where attempts were made to force on the electorate supporters of the St. Gothard Convention (A.R., 1913, p. 368). The President of the Confederation for 1915 was M. Motta of Ticino, the Vice-President M. Decoppet of Vaud, while another citizen of Vaud, M. F. Bonjour, was elected President of the National Council. The chief work of this body during the year was the passing of the Budget and (in December) of certain fiscal measures designed to cope to some extent with the immense deficit caused by the war in the Customs revenue and the Federal railway receipts. The cost of the mobilisation alone by the end of the year amounted to 104,480,000 francs. At first the Federal Council had considered the immediate establishment of a Federal monopoly of tobacco, or, alternatively, of a special tax on it, and a special levy on capital and earned income; eventually both were postponed for further examination, and also as necessitating an amendment of the Federal Constitution. Provisionally, therefore, new revenue was obtained by an increase of existing taxes and of telephone, telegraph, and certain postal rates. The requisite legislation was formally declared urgent, and was thereby exempted from possible submission to a popular vote.

On the outbreak of the war it became the primary duty and effort of the Swiss nation to preserve its integrity and independence. On July 31 the whole Swiss Army received notice to hold itself in readiness; on August 3 a general mobilisation was ordered, which was most satisfactorily carried out. On the latter day the Federal Chambers assembled, and elected Colonel Ulrich Wille to the chief command of the Army, and Colonel Sprecher von Bernegg Chief of the General Staff. They also invested the Federal Council with the widest possible powers.

For the rest of the year the Federal Administration had to face a very difficult situation. Its declaration of neutrality was followed by a long series of measures necessitated by one of the most critical situations in Swiss history.[26] Besides the purely military measures originating especially with the General Staff—the mobilisation and training of the troops, the war time-table (involving a reduced service) of the Federal Railways, and the construction of fortifications, the deficiency of grain had to be supplied from abroad by the Federal Council, and a kind of monopoly of cereals became inevitable.

On the declaration of war the stocks of grain and flour in hand, together with those in the hands of traders, secured the food supply of the country for three months at most. With the home crop there would be enough, with strict supervision, to last till mid-December. Refraining from sequestration of home-grown grain, the Federal Council confined itself to demanding its sale at the price of imported grain, though its yield was lower. This step had not the desired effect, but fortunately in the spring the Federal Council had made arrangements for a supply with Germany and France. The arrangement concluded with Germany proved ineffectual, the war stopping the transit of grain up the Rhine. Cargoes on their way to Rotterdam were intercepted by the British Fleet. But as compensation Switzerland obtained the delivery of the 2,600 carloads of wheat and some hundreds of carloads of oats stored in German warehouses or in transit by the Rhine at the outbreak of the war. Meanwhile the Federal authorities made considerable purchases in America. The arrangement with France permitted the daily discharge and despatch to Swiss territory of quantities of wheat and oats representing the daily Swiss consumption, but in fact the ports of St. Nazaire and Bordeaux, which were to secure the maintenance of this service, at no time did so, and the average supply continuously fell short of the normal need. As it happened, the deficit could be made good through Genoa, notably in December, when the importation reached its maximum. In January, 1915, the crowded condition of the port of Genoa caused a decline, but the French authorities just then gave permission for importation to Switzerland through Marseilles. Charges were made that the export of wheat to the belligerents had been permitted; but they were unfair and baseless.[27] The supply of fuel was a still greater difficulty; but the courtesy of the neighbouring countries enabled it to be maintained.

The Federal Council had also to prohibit the exportation of commodities indispensable to the nation, and to attempt to obtain the raw materials necessary to the continuance of Swiss industries, it had also to induce the Press as far as possible to observe neutrality so as not to hamper it in negotiation. It had to repress espionage, to regulate the relations of debtors and creditors so as to avert a financial crisis, to enable payments to be deferred, to lessen unemployment, to regulate the relations of workmen with employers whose business was affected by the crisis; it had specially to supplement the stock of silver coin, to issue notes and Treasury bonds of 5, 10, 20, 25 and 40 francs, to create a Loan Bank, and to contract two Federal Loans, of 25,000,000 francs and 40,000,000 francs respectively, and to prepare legislation enabling the repayment of part of the expenditure incurred, which would reach 200,000,000 francs early in 1915.

Immense services were rendered to the country in all financial operations by the National Bank. Under the earlier system of a number of cantonal banks of issue, the crisis would have been far more serious. Nevertheless a host of industries were paralysed, beginning with the hotel industry (p. 187) and the building trade. Fortunately agriculture has remained important in the national economy.

After a few days of panic on the outbreak of the war among certain classes, with a run on the banks and the provision shops, the public reverted to a saner view of the position. The establishment of military rule and the total prohibition of demonstrations of all sorts contributed largely to this result. Apprehension was quieted by the publication of a statement of the resources of the country and by the means taken to assure fresh supplies of food, and, up to the end of the year at any rate, the gravest results of the economic crisis had been averted by a judicious administration of relief. The public services were put to a severe test, but their immediate difficulties had been overcome. The military organisation had proved to be excellent; so had the railway administration. The financial administration had emerged but slowly from its difficulties. Despite its honesty, soundness and prudence, the crisis seemed to have shown that it needed some additional mechanism.

Protests were made by the Federal Government against the seizure of grain cargoes destined for Swiss use and against an alleged violation of Swiss territory during the air raid on Friedrichshafen (Nov. 21; p. 245). The first difference was arranged amicably; the violation of territory was denied by the British Government.

Finally, the country recovered itself and rallied when confronted by the immensity of the misery demanding relief. The Red Cross Society was unsparing in its exertions. Conclusive reasons prevented the despatch by it of ambulances to the seat of war, but many medical men and nurses went abroad to devote themselves to the care of the wounded. The International Red Cross Committee at Geneva created an Agency for Prisoners of War, which collected the names and addresses of French prisoners in Germany and of German prisoners in France. It transmitted to them letters or parcels sent by their relatives, and though, eventually, direct communication became possible, the Agency was still receiving thousands of demands for information daily after the New Year had begun.

An Agency to deal with interned civilians was also established at Berne, and was assisted by a Committee at Geneva for the Germans and at Schaffhausen for the French. It was indefatigable in its exertions. It served as an intermediary between the belligerents for the repatriation of the persons interned. It took thousands of them under its charge at one or other frontier and conducted them to their own country.

In offering hospitality to Belgian refugees Lausanne led the way. By the close of the year some hundreds of them had arrived and the stream was continuing. They were received by the whole people with a thrill of sympathy, and were distributed throughout the French-speaking cantons. The wave of pity for them spread to German Switzerland; gifts for them poured in; subscriptions were opened for them by the Press; workrooms were filled with clothing and underclothing, and much work was done for them in private houses. While the ingenuity of their hosts was taxed on their behalf and on that of the wounded, it was necessary also to provide for the Swiss who had been deprived by the occupation of the frontiers of their means of subsistence. Here also the Red Cross organisation lent its aid, distributing clothing, boots, underclothing and relief. In charitable work the nation recovered its unity, which for a short time had been compromised by sectional differences of opinion and reciprocal violence of language. The alleged divergence of view between French and German Swiss was largely generated by the allegations in the Press that it existed, and was misinterpreted as a manifestation of cantonal antagonism. Facts may be differently appreciated and feelings may vary in degree, but in the hour of danger the unity of the Swiss people is complete.

IV. SPAIN.

The first days of the year saw the opening of an electoral campaign of a kind entirely novel in Spanish history. By a decree of January 4 the electors of the kingdom were summoned for March 4 to choose the members of the Cortes; the renewal of the Senate was fixed for a slightly later date, in conformity with a precedent dating from the period of the Sagasta Ministry. The various parties had thus two whole months for their propaganda; not too much, considering their strange complication on entering the contest. The old historic parties were irremediably broken up. The former Liberal group was divided into Romanonists and Prietists, who were violently hostile to each other; the Conservative adherents of the Prime Minister were treated by Señor Maura's supporters as renegades, and, with their leader, were advancing by imperceptible stages towards a broad conception of social progress which was destined to win them the sympathy of the King and eventually the Romanonists' support. Señor Dato did not entirely give up the advantages traditionally possessed by Spanish Ministries, but he did not desire to abuse them, and he bid for support for his cause by showing fair play, inasmuch as he allowed his opponents full freedom of speech, of the Press, and of public meeting, so far as was compatible with the preservation of order, and met them, not with prosecutions and arbitrary interferences, but with arguments and projects of reform. As a security that this judicious policy would be continued, he was bold enough to cut short the constant advance towards decentralisation, which had been retarded for years by Parliamentary trickery, by procuring the issue of a Royal decree authorising mancomunidades or combinations of local authorities for public purposes (A.R., 1912, p. 372). That the time was ripe for this reform was proved by the fact that the provinces forming the ancient Kingdom of Castile immediately combined for poor-relief and public works; their example was followed by Valencia and Catalonia. This step visibly discomfited the Opposition. The Carlists and Maurists even accused the Government of stealing other people's plans. The King loyally supported its efforts to combine order with freedom. A few brief periods of temporary difficulty were easily surmounted. The railway strike in Portugal in the middle of January occasioned a careful watch of the whole Western frontier; and through this vigilance the movement was prevented from spreading to Spain. Colonel Labrador, a Protestant, had been condemned by court martial to six months' detention in a fortress for having refused to attend a Mass of the Holy Spirit; the King pardoned him. The increasing popularity of the Ministry exasperated the Opposition to such a degree that it led them into a blunder. They decided to organise a great electoral demonstration at the very heart of the region where their leader had most influence. Don Ossorio Gallardo, who when Governor of Barcelona had mercilessly suppressed the rising of 1909, went there to preside at a great Conservative meeting and banquet. As he was proceeding to the place of meeting at the head of a very demonstrative procession, he was attacked by a band of counter-demonstrators; revolvers were fired, and one of the organisers of his campaign who was beside him was wounded. The Acting-Governor, Señor Andrade, tendered him his condolence; he refused it, and exhibited his irritation even more decidedly by declaring in public that the government of the province had been put up to auction and had gone to the least deserving bidder. These denunciations the Liberal Conservatives and their allies decided to disregard, and these tactics were successful. Order was gradually restored at Barcelona. It was disturbed at Valencia by causes which were not political but social. A general strike was set up (Feb. 25) by a fresh increase of the municipal taxes; as a precaution, all the shops, warehouses, and offices were closed; the troops had to intervene forcibly to restore order.

The result of the general election of the Chamber was considered as a victory not only for the Ministry, but also for the King. He had made himself the mediator between the parties, and it was his delight to enter into relations with all the more important personages of the Kingdom either at the great open receptions at the Royal Palace, or in private interviews, which he granted freely. According to the official figures, of the 404 members elected 356 were Liberals, Liberal Conservatives, or "Reformist" Republicans, the last named having practically come to support, not perhaps the monarchy, but at any rate the monarch. The Ministerial organs, and even the Romanonist, exulted in the success; but the figures were disputed by the Opposition, and eventually the divisions following the more important debates in the Cortes showed that the seats won by the Carlists (or rather Jaïmists), by the Ultramontanes or Integrists, and by the Maurists on the Extreme Right and the Republicans and Socialists on the Extreme Left might be estimated at a third of the total. The elections to the Senate had been completed on April 22. The results were: Conservatives ninety-two, Liberals fifty-one, Catholics ten, of whom eight were prelates, Regionalists six, Republicans seven, Integrists and Jaïmists two each. The session formally opened on April 2, when the newly elected deputies and Senators attended to hear the Royal Speech. But the Chamber adjourned almost immediately for Easter, and then proceeded leisurely to examine whether its members were duly elected; it was not definitively constituted until April 28. Señor Besada was elected President without a dissentient vote, and it was not till May 5 that the debate on the Address was begun. This policy of gaining time seemed to have quieted the Maurist ardour for attack. In the Senate three days sufficed for the debate; the Address was passed by 145 to 71. A much longer time was required in the Chamber; the Ministerial text was passed by 184 to 90 on June 18. But several debates on other subjects had taken place meantime, and had resulted in disorder. That on the interpellation on Morocco introduced by Don Gabriel Maura, son of the ex-Premier, had been especially uproarious, and had led to encounters in the lobbies between deputies and journalists, and to street fights, with bloodshed, between the supporters of the different parties, which compelled the police to take vigorous measures to restore order. Meanwhile a shipping strike was met by the owners with a lock-out, and they refused the arbitration offered by the Government. The strike lasted more than a fortnight, but ended on June 22, without the strikers' demands being satisfied. During this time the Government introduced a naval programme into the Chamber, in the shape of a Bill providing for an annual grant for nine years of 36,000,000 pesetas (1,440,000l.) for the construction of two battleships, two fast cruisers, and a number of submarines; it also secured the passing of a Treaty of Commerce with Italy.

The end of the session was comparatively calm. The Chamber adopted the Treaty of Commerce already voted by the Senate, and the Republicans, by proposing a lengthy series of amendments, prevented the discussion of the naval scheme. As soon as the only measures remaining to be considered were not purely political, the two Chambers were overcome by fatigue. But interesting questions were raised nevertheless. Thus Don Rogelio de Madariaga proposed that a Commission of experts should be appointed to study the question of reducing the gauge of the railways of the Kingdom so as to make it uniform with that of Central and Western Europe. The change became imperative in view of the impending connexion of the French system with the lines of Northern Spain by two new railways through the Pyrenees. The matter was postponed, and the Cortes separated for the recess, first, however, passing (July 9) a slight modification in the concession for the Morocco railway from Tangier to Fez in respect of the part traversing the Spanish zone.

During the recess, the question arose of the attitude to be observed by Spain in the war in Europe. This gave rise to active discussion. The geographical position of the kingdom assured it great advantages, whatever side it might take, unless indeed it should become engaged in a war with France. On July 30 Señor Dato emphatically contradicted a statement to the effect that Spain had undertaken to send an army to relieve the French expeditionary corps in Morocco, and declared that Spain was not bound to any Power whatever by either an offensive or a defensive alliance. As the various declarations of war were issued, the Government intimated its intention to remain neutral, and its behaviour up to the close of the year was in accordance with this decision. The Liberals and Republicans set up an active agitation in favour of Spanish support for the Triple Entente; but the great mass of the priesthood, the Carlists, and a section of the Maurists, demanded a benevolent neutrality towards Germany and Austria-Hungary. The King observed strict impartiality; but he combined the attitude of reserve taken up by him as monarch with a chivalrous recognition of the help given to Spain on various occasions by France. The diplomatic representatives of Spain in Germany and Austria-Hungary were instructed to undertake the protection of French subjects and interests in those countries, and fulfilled their mission with conspicuous dignity. In Spain itself economic measures had to be taken; at the beginning of August a moratorium was established by decree, and the export of cereals and cattle for slaughter prohibited. The censorship was not revived, but the President of the Press Association and the editors-in-chief of the Madrid newspapers were summoned to the Ministry of the Interior, and Don Sanchez Guerra explained to them very clearly the conditions on which the Government would allow the system of freedom for the Press to continue. It was forbidden to cause assemblages or demonstrations by announcing news through the medium of illuminated notices; to circulate false news relating to the events of the war or to diplomatic action; and to insert articles insulting to any of the belligerent Powers. At the same time an active supervision was exercised over the agencies established in Spain to support the interests of Germany, and it disclosed strange manœuvres, both at Barcelona and on the Atlantic coasts. Thus wireless stations were discovered, surreptitiously established in monasteries; they were suppressed, but people were not so optimistic as to hope that there were no others. From the middle of September, and especially after the bombardment of Reims, Spanish opinion gradually turned to open support of the Allies; but the Government remained faithful to its original determination, and the Minister of Public Instruction, Señor Bellarmin, who had gone beyond the reserve imposed on him by his office, was obliged to resign. On October 2 a decree was issued summoning the Cortes for the autumn session, which was a very busy one. The business was, in fact, the Budget of 1915, which had not been dealt with in the spring, being crowded out by the debates on Morocco. The Opposition made some attempts at obstruction, but in vain. Count Romanones loyally and effectively supported the Ministers in limiting the debates on political and diplomatic questions to a few sittings each week, so as to devote the rest of the time to the Finance Bill. The method was straightforward and its effects were happy. The Chamber and Senate approved the Ministerial declaration of neutrality, and took note of Señor Dato's promise to consult them if the course of events should necessitate exceptional measures. Meanwhile, Spain performed her duties with courtesy, and reminded her foreign guests, when necessary, of the respect due to her laws. The German Consul-General at Barcelona had the presumption to demand the prohibition in that city of the sale of all French newspapers whatever, on the pretext that they contained insults to the Emperor and the German Army; he was met with a categorical refusal. On November 15 the Chamber discussed the shooting of Spanish subjects at Liège by the Emperor's troops. The Marquis of Lerna replied for the Government that explanations had been demanded at Berlin, and that an inquiry had been promised by the Secretary of State. In the same sitting the Minister informed the Chamber that France no longer proposed to claim for her members the maintenance of the rights and privileges resulting from the capitulations in Morocco, on condition that they should be treated by the Courts on a footing of equality with subjects of Spain. Two days later the Chamber approved the proposed amnesty for political offenders, in spite of the opposition of the Right. The Maurists did not relax their hostility, but their agitation in no way helped their cause, nor that of their Germanophil allies. A Jesuit, Father Ricardos, great-grandson of the General who invaded Roussillon in 1793, undertook, in a sermon at Alicante, to defend the German Armies; he was hooted by his hearers and compelled to leave the pulpit. A newspaper started by the Hamburger Nachrichten to carry on the pro-German propaganda in Spain insulted the ex-Empress of the French; it was seized by the Spanish police and suppressed. King Alphonso XIII saw his popularity and prestige increasing daily; the Republicans themselves paid homage to his loyalty to the country and his patriotism. When the session of the Cortes closed on December 1, the political and economic situation of Spain was more satisfactory than it had been for a long time past. The rate of exchange had undergone a remarkable improvement; still, great circumspection was necessary, and the Government appealed to the Spanish capitalists who had subscribed for the Treasury Bonds, of which 250,000,000 pesetas were repayable at the end of December, urging them not to require repayment, in order that there should be no interruption in the public works undertaken to relieve unemployment.

V. PORTUGAL.

The complicated mechanism of the Republican Constitution of Portugal could only have worked regularly if a small number of parties, well organised and under strict discipline, had secured the support of the immense majority of the electorate for simple programmes, leaving the form of Government entirely outside discussion. But things did not stand thus. The Monarchists remained irreconcilable and active; the rural classes, whose ignorance was extreme, cared little about the Republic; in the great towns the syndicalist propaganda threatened even the first principles of social order; the middle-class political parties were hardly more than coteries, whose leaders struggled amid personal intrigues. Some excellent people felt anxiety at this condition of affairs, and strove to form homogeneous parties; their efforts were paralysed by the bad habits which were a legacy from traditions that were already ancient. Thus, when on January 5 the session opened, there was reason to apprehend grave complications. However, Señor Affonso Costa, the Prime Minister, made the best of a bad situation. He announced extensive schemes; a Bill forbidding members of the Cortes to hold their seats together with certain offices; reforms in the Budget, securing a surplus of 3,400 contos or 17,000,000 francs (680,000l.), of which 2,400 contos would be spent on national defence. But the majority of the Senate declared itself opposed to him, and on January 10 the Evolutionist Senator Joâo de Freïtas addressed an interpellation to the Prime Minister on a personal question, charging him with having placed his influence as a Minister at the service of clients who consulted him as a barrister. The Minister refused to reply to a calumny. His supporters opposed the nomination of a Committee of Inquiry, and left the House. Other incidents became associated with this scandal; grave Senators sent one another challenges, and for three days a tumult hitherto unheard of converted the Senate Chamber into the semblance of a revolutionary club let loose. Along with this disturbance in the Senate there was a serious strike among the men employed by the Portuguese Railways Company. Seven thousand men left work on a question of pensions. They demanded that the age limit of sixty should be lowered to fifty. Every railway service to Spain was disorganised. The movement rapidly took on a revolutionary aspect. Trains and engines were taken into Spain, and the staff refused to bring them back into Portugal. The Government had the stations occupied by troops; it protected the works of art and, after a week of vigilant efforts and of negotiations, induced the men to resume work (Jan. 21). But it was constantly harassed by the Senate, and the Prime Minister refused to appear in that body until satisfaction had been rendered for the insult offered him. He was supported by the Chamber. The Senate then appealed to the President of the Republic to intervene, by asking him, as guardian of the Republic, to invite his Ministers to observe its orders. The President declared that the settlement of this difficulty lay with the legislative power. The two Chambers met in a joint sitting to vote the adjournment of the session. The Ministerialists proposed a vote of confidence, which was adopted by 114 to 93. The Opposition Senators and deputies then withdrew, and by their withdrawal precluded the regular passage of the other measures before the House. The Ministry found its course hopelessly blocked. It resigned (Jan. 24).

The two Chambers were in conflict. The Democratic Left had the majority in the Lower House; the Unionist and Evolutionist groups of the Opposition in the Senate. Each group, by leaving the House, prevented the other from having a quorum and taking a valid division. The President of the Republic made lavish efforts at conciliation. He selected as Prime Minister Senhor Bernardino Machado, who had come back from Brazil; on February 8 a Ministry was formed, on the 9th it presented itself to the President of the Republic, and on the day following to the Cortes. Its programme comprised an amnesty for political offences, pardons, sufficiently wide in their range, for other convicted persons, the revision of the law separating Church and State, impartiality in electoral contests, and abatement of party strife. As a security that these pacific declarations would be carried out, the new Ministry met the wishes of the Senate on a subject which had brought that body into conflict with the preceding Cabinet, viz. the right of exercising a check on the appointment of Colonial Governors; in return, it obtained from the Senate the passing of a Bill re-establishing the Lisbon Labour Exchange, and, after some days of delicate negotiation, it induced both Houses to vote the proposed amnesty (Feb. 23). The day following, the railwaymen again went on strike, and for some days there was reason to expect disturbances of the gravest kind. The crisis, however, was terminated without resort to force; and, for some months, the Ministry followed a prudent policy of conciliation which diminished the violence of controversy and kept matters going till June. But this temporising method was violently attacked, especially by the Democrats. Senhor Machado decided that the time had come to obtain a new confirmation of his power. On June 20 he resigned, and, when re-appointed by the President of the Republic, he formed an entirely non-party Ministry, to proceed with complete impartiality to new elections; and it secured the passing of the Budget. The election campaign was marked by considerable disturbance, and was abruptly interrupted by the declaration of war by Great Britain on Germany. Portugal found herself involved in the conflict, and was obliged to repel German attacks on Angola. The elections were postponed; the Cortes were summoned for August 7, and were requested by the Government to empower it to take all the measures necessary to guarantee the maintenance of public order, to secure national defence, and to provide for the expenditure that would have to be undertaken in view of the international situation. The Chamber voted urgency and unanimously adopted the Bill laid before it; the day following, the Senate likewise passed the measure unanimously, and the Chambers were prorogued. It must be acknowledged that thenceforward the attitude of the Republican parties was perfectly correct. The Monarchists hesitated to follow their example, although King Manuel wrote on August 20 to his chief representative, Don Azevedo Coutinho, that he had personally placed himself at the disposal of King George V., and the Portuguese Monarchists must think first of their country and the defence of its sacred soil. In the course of October a few irreconcilables attempted a rising, which was a miserable failure; its only consequence was to cause the chief of their party, Don Joâo de Azevedo Coutinho, to write to the President of the Republic demanding permission to serve in the Army should Portugal take part in the European War. His goodwill was not put to the test. The Government contented itself with sending reinforcements to Angola; it suppressed without difficulty a disturbance at Oporto caused by the high price of provisions; and on November 25 it convoked the Chambers in extraordinary session. They unanimously and promptly passed a resolution giving the Government full power to take part in the war in conformity with the national interests and obligations. This resolution differed from that adopted in August, inasmuch as at the earlier date the question had only been one of defensive measures, while this time participation was contemplated in the war in Europe. But Great Britain did not call on her ancient ally for assistance, and it was well she did not, the more so inasmuch as the Germanophil parties in Spain were carrying on an agitation for "Iberian Union," which distinctly involved a menace to the independence of Portugal.