narrow-minded, parochial, self-opinionated man that he was before he had the benefit of being brought in contact with some of the greatest minds of Europe. As one man remarks: "On what other American, outside of an asylum, would such an experience be so utterly wasted? Mr. McKinley's mind broadened with his opportunities, so has the mind of every great American. Bryan is not great, he is preposterous. Throw him out! As long as he is connected with the party, just so long will all Conservative men recognise the danger signal and keep clear."

"

That very tersely expresses the feeling of men who are disgusted with Mr. Bryan and who are longing for an opportunity to "throw him out once and for all. It is an extraordinary state of affairs when a man who has been twice given his opportunity, who has been twice repudiated and of whom the country is tired, should attempt to set up his judgment against the majority. It is Mr. Bryan's misfortune that he lives in the United States and not in a country whose political institutions make possible a coup d'etat; where the recognised methods of securing an election is by a revolution.

If Mr. Bryan is determined to satisfy his inordinate ambition, his best plan is to emigrate to South America, where there is always an opportunity for the man on horseback, and where only an infinitesimal fraction of the $9,000,000 which he claims was used to defeat him for the Presidency would gain him the goal for which he has so vainly struggled and which can never be his in his native land.

Some things are as certain in politics as they are in nature. Just as surely as the sun will rise to-morrow, just so surely Mr. Bryan will not be nominated by the Democrats at St. Louis next July. Whom they will nominate I am not wise enough or rash enough to predict at this time, but I make the assertion with a feeling of conviction that it will not be Mr. Bryan. Mr. Bryan may have power enough left to exercise some influence in the Convention and to be able to prevent the nomination of the man whom the Convention really wants, but that will be the extent of his maleficent domination. He cannot be nominated himself, and if the man had the least sense of gratitude, if he were really as much interested in the success of the Democratic party as he professes to be, he would cease to be a disturbing element in the party and try to help some other man succeed where he has twice failed. Probably that is the secret of Mr. Bryan's discontent. He cannot reconcile himself to the thought of any other Democrat doing that which he found impossible, and to vindicate himself he must make Democrats believe that

their defeat in 1896 and 1900 was due to causes which could not be removed, and not to the personality of their candidate.

The United States is as yet only a passive spectator in the great drama being played in the Far East, but although at this time a spectator merely, it may become at any time an active actor. It has contributed in a small degree to the development of the great plot which is rapidly unfolding. The appointment by the President of consuls at Mukden and Antung in Manchuria, which the United States was permitted to do under the terms of the commercial treaty negotiated with China, has been bitterly resented by Russia, but the United States regards Manchuria as an integral portion of the Chinese Empire, and does not acknowledge the right of Russia to be consulted. The United States has caused it to be announced officially that in sending consuls to Manchuria, and in negotiating the treaty with China, which gave it certain political rights, it had no political purpose to serve in Manchuria, and that its objects were commercial solely. The Russian Government has not been so innocent as to have been misled by diplomatic "assurances "—-Russia, of all countries in the world, knowing best the slight importance to be attached to a "diplomatic assurance "—and is fully aware of the motives which animated the American Government when insisting upon China negotiating the treaty, which, by the way, the Russian Government did its utmost to prevent, and whose ratification was delayed for months because of Russia's opposition.

Through official as well as unofficial sources I learn that Russia has been greatly disturbed by the United States becoming an active agent in the affairs of the Far East. Readers of the National Review have been kept thoroughly informed by me as to the almost strained relations between the United States and Russia ever since the United States abandoned its policy of isolation and began to realise that its commercial interests demanded that it must make its voice heard in the councils of Asia. After vainly endeavouring to persuade the American Government that it did not need to make a treaty with China in regard to Manchuria, as the assurances given by Russia to preserve the open door were all-sufficient, and after finding that the United States was not quite so simple as to place any value on assurances, Russia endeavoured, first, to prevent the negotiation of the treaty, and as that failed, she put pressure upon China to induce her to refuse to sign it. Both schemes were unsuccessful, and after the treaty had been duly ratified by the United States and China, a semi-official Russian announcement

was made that the new consuls would not be permitted to take up their residence, and that Russia would regard it as an unfriendly act if the United States insisted upon establishing the consulates. This declaration not being well received here, the usual official démenti followed, although the Russian Government has never ceased to make the American Government understand that it disapproves of its course, and cannot understand the necessity for the establishment of American consulates in Manchuria.

The consuls have not yet left for their posts, and some curiosity is expressed in official circles as to the reception which is to be accorded to them, and whether any attempt will be made by the Russian officials to embarrass them or to throw obstacles in the way of the expansion of American commerce. On the attitude of Russia much depends. Naturally no Government makes any announcement of its policy in advance of the circumstances which may involve action, but I am in a position to state that the present administration will insist that every facility be extended to its consular representatives, and that they shall be treated with the same respect in Manchuria that is accorded to an American consul in any other part of the world. The New York Tribune, the recognised leading Republican newspaper of this country, in an editorial discussing the question, after referring to Russian opposition to the treaty and the Russian protests and efforts to nullify the treaty since its ratification, significantly remarks: "At the present moment it certainly looks as though the treaty will be fulfilled, or as though there would be some unpleasant complications if it were not."

No country in the world has treated its defenders with such lavish generosity as the United States. To show its sense of obligation to the men who, when the Union was threatened with disruption, responded to the call for arms and rallied in defence of the flag, Congress enacted extremely liberal pension laws by which any man who served for no matter how brief a period in the Union army and received even the merest scratch was eligible to a pension. Although the purpose of these laws was altruistic they had their genesis in politics. The discovery was made that the "soldier vote "-that is, the men who took part in the great struggle, and it must be remembered that over 2,000,000 served in the Northern army and navy, and of these 1,727,000 were alive when hostilities ceased-was a potent force to decide elections. A majority of the men who fought on the side of the North were naturally Republicans, but they were not all Republicans, and the Democrats would vote for Democrats unless they were offered some inducements. The Republicans

therefore professed a great love for the veteran. Every session of Congress saw the restrictions broken down, politicians cowering under the terrorism of the "soldier vote," and a heavier burden laid upon the country.

Nothing more scandalous, nothing more disgraceful, nothing more cowardly, has ever been known in any country or any legislation than the history of the pension-roll of the United States. In Washington, in New York, in Boston, in every city, large and small, even in the most obscure hamlet, men calling themselves pension attorneys hunted up "veterans" and induced them to file pension claims, the attorney of course receiving a fee for his services. For years it was an extremely profitable business, and many attorneys made large fortunes. Their rapacity increased with their opportunities. They lobbied for the passage of more liberal pension laws, at their instigation soldiers bombarded Congress with petitions demanding increased pensions, they dared politicians to antagonise the veteran. The crowning infamy was "The Arrears of Pension" Act. Congress, for instance, passed an Act in 1870 entitling a man to pension at a certain rate, but the would-be pensioner did not file his application till, say, 1880. If his pension was granted, and nearly all claims were admitted, as the order to the Commissioner of Pensions was always "to be liberal with the boys" and to stretch the law to the utmost limit, the pensioner was entitled to arrears from the date of the passage of the Act until the granting of his pension. Often these arrears amounted to several thousand dollars, and as the attorney was paid a percentage on the amount he grew rich overnight. To-day there are nearly 1,000,000 men, women, and children drawing pensions, because the Government's bounty is not alone confined to actual combatants, but extends to their widows and minor children. The annual cost exceeds £27,000,000.

It has been repeatedly asserted in Congress and in the press that the pension rolls are honeycombed with fraud, and that a considerable percentage of the men drawing pensions are not properly entitled to them. Colour is given to this assertion by the phenomena of new names being daily added to the pension rolls. The war ended almost forty years ago, and it is a fair presumption that men who were injured in the line of duty would have applied for pensions long ago, but they wait until their claims are less carefully scrutinised, until it is more diffi. cult to produce positive testimony to brand the claim as fraudulent, owing to the deaths of company or regimental officers or for other causes, and it is easier to bring forward the nebulous testimony of accommodating neighbours and friends to "army service," which the Pension Office readily accepts.

A few years ago the Commissioner of Pensions was drawing a pension of $100 a month on the ground that he was Iphysically and totally disabled." Yet that man who was paid a pension because he was supposed to be totally unable to do any work requiring physical exertion, was physically sound enough to be placed at the head of an institution disbursing some £27,000,000 a year, and having under his control several hundred clerks. That man, after having been out of office for some years, has just been appointed by President Roosevelt a member of the Civil Service Commission, at a salary of £1000 a year, and still continues to draw his pension for total disability.

Still further to cater to the soldier vote a Bill is now pending in Congress by which every man who served for not less than ninety days in the Union army shall be granted a pension of from 2 to £2 10s. a month, no evidence being required that he was wounded or in any other way received any disability on account of his army service, but the mere fact of his having been enlisted shall be deemed sufficient to entitle him to a pension. It is impossible to say what the cost of this addition. to the pension roll will be, but the best authorities agree that it will not be less than £6,000,000 a year, and probably it may be double. It is notorious that every calculation of new pension legislation has always been far below the actual figures, and therefore if £6,000,000 is the lowest estimate, it is safe to say that an amount far in excess of this will be needed. Although the last shot of the Civil War was fired almost forty years ago, careful estimates show that the last pensioner will not have cashed his last cheque until 1940. So long as the American. people are as rich as they are to-day, they can stand the expense without much trouble, but if national expenditures continue to increase at the same ratio during the next decade as they have in the last, and income does not proportionately increase, the pension list will be a serious matter for future generations, and future American Secretaries of the Treasury will be sorely pressed to meet their obligations.

Mr. Bourke Cockran, of New York, I believe, is not unknown in England. Mr. Cockran may be best remembered as the American who had the bad taste to interfere in English politics and tell Englishmen how to vote, and to try and make bad blood between Irishmen and Englishmen. Mr. Cockran was formerly a member of Congress from New York, but he offended Richard Croker, when he was the all-powerful boss of Tammany, and when anybody offended that autocrat promptly plucked him out. So Mr. Cockran had his Congressional