Bismarck's to purchase an alliance with Spain by bringing about an Iberian Union, declared that the idea was not for a moment to be entertained, even if it were proposed that the method of its realisation should be the election of the King of Portugal to the Spanish throne. CHAPTER V. RUSSIA-Marriage of the Princess Marie Alexandrovna to the Duke of EdinburghImperial Ukase on Universal Conscription for the Army-Brussels ConferenceSiberian exiles. SWEDEN-Proposed Army measure. DENMARK.-Change of Ministry-King's visit to Iceland-King's speech-Germany and Denmark. BELGIUM-Elections to Senate and Chamber-International Society Congress at Brussels. NETHERLANDS. Twenty-fifth anniversary of King's Accession-Change of Ministry -War in Atchin. SWITZERLAND.-New Federal Constitution adopted--Congresses at Geneva and Berne -Church matters-Old Catholics at Berne-Father Hyacinthe. TURKEY.-Visit of Prince of Servia to Constantinople-Turkey and its Dependencies -Armenian Church-Suez Canal-Inundation of the Nile-Address to the Khedive-His answer. GREECE.-Fall of the Deligeorges Ministry-Olympian excavations. ASIATIC STATES. PERSIA.-State of the country-Political parties. NORTH AMERICA. UNITED STATES.-Financial difficulties-Bill for inflating paper MEXICO. The State and Ultramontanism. SOUTH AMERICA. BRAZIL.-Ecclesiastical affairs. PERU. New discovery of Guano-Revolt of Pierola. ECUADOR. COLUMBIA. RUSSIA. ON January 23 a very splendid ceremonial was witnessed in the Russian capital, when Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of the Queen of England, was married to Marie-Alexandrovna, only daughter of the Czar. Five days previously the annual custom of blessing the waters of the Neva took place in presence of a host of foreign princes and native grandees; and as these followed the Czar and the Imperial family from the Winter Palace to the river side, the mass and colour of the great procession were magnificent to behold. The marriage itself was solemnised in the Winter Palace. For its details we refer our readers to the "Chronicle" department of our volume. The festivities were continued for several succeeding days at St. Petersburg, and the newly-married pair received numerous congratulatory deputations there and also at Moscow, to which ancient capital of the Empire they repaired for a few days on February 5. Shortly afterwards they quitted the Russian dominions, and made their way to England by slow degrees. One ominous feature, which had been conspicuous in the political history of Europe ever since the war of 1870, was brought into special prominence this year by the processes of legislation, We have seen in Germany the enactment of the Augmented Army Bill, to which the pending legislation on the Landsturm is a formidable corollary. In France, the defeat and impoverishment of the country did not prevent her rulers from making it the first consideration that her fighting powers should be repaired and increased, at whatever cost. When one or two great military Powers set the example, it was felt as a necessity by others not to be behindhand, Russia, Austria, and Italy could not see France and Germany in arms without preparing themselves equally for the possible crisis that seemed to be in the contemplation of their neighbours. And even the smaller States followed suit, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, set about making their armies efficient in the best way they could, England only, trusting in her insular position, forbears from the competition, which in her case would seem to be hopeless, and instead of arming her industrial population with sabre and cuirass, looks to her navy for her defence in the day of trouble. In Russia no Parliamentary sanction was needed for the law which was to enforce the increase of the nation's military strength. It was ordained by a Ukase, or Imperial manifesto, issued on January 1, the purport of which was simply universal conscription. The terms of the Ukase were as follows:: "We, Alexander II., Imperator and Autoerat of All the Russias, &c., hereby announce as follows to all our loyal subjects, -Being ever desirous to promote the welfare of the Empire and improve the institutions of the same, we have directed our attention to the arrangements regulating the service in our Army and Navy. In accordance with the existing laws, military service is exacted only from the peasants and citizens, a considerable portion of Russian subjects being thus exempt from a duty which ought to be equally imposed upon all. These antiquated arrangements, besides being no longer in harmony with the altered circumstances of our social and political life, are at variance with the military requirements of the present age. Recent events have proved that a State is strong, not by the numbers, but by the moral and intellectual education of its troops. But this education can be secured only by all classes of society alike devoting themselves to the sacred task of defending the country. Recognising, therefore, the necessity of remodelling the organisation of our forces on the experience of modern times, we, in 1870, commanded our Minister of War to draw up a law providing for an improved system of military service on the basis of universal conscription. When we gave this order, the well-known patriotic readiness of our subjects to sacrifice everything for the good of the country allowed us to hope that the words we addressed to them at the time would find a ready echo in the Russian heart. In this expectation we were not disappointed. Our valiant nobility, as well as the other classes hitherto exempt from conscription, in many loyal addresses, acquainted us with their anxious desire to share the hardships of military service with the rest of the people. We received the expression of their sentiments with feelings of proud and exalted joy, and we thanked Providence for allowing us to reign over a people who inherit self-denying love of country from their ancestors, and who will leave the same sacred legacy to their children. The principles of the projected reform having been laid down by us, a Special Commission was appointed, including members of the various Departments and other competent persons, to draw up the new Military Law. The draught submitted to us by the Commission, and carefully examined and amended by the Council of the Empire, is entirely in accordance with our own views. Fully acknowledging the principle that the defence of the Throne and country is a sacred duty of every Russian, the draft declares every male liable to conscription, and repeals the ancient provisions allowing conscripts to redeem their obligation by payment of a sum of money or the presentation of a substitute. The operation of the new law is, however, not to extend to the Cossacks, whose military service is regulated by special arrangements, nor will the non-Russian inhabitants of the Transcaucasian Provinces and other remote districts enumerated in our Ukase to the Supreme Administrative Senate be liable to the new provisions, it being intended to issue special regulations for these foreign tribes. With these and some other temporary exceptions mentioned in our Ukase to the Senate, the whole male population of the Empire of Russia and the Kingdom of Poland, on attaining the twentieth year of age, will be required to draw lots, the result of the drawing settling, once for all, who is to be enlisted for active service and who not. Those draughted into the Army will be liable to a fifteen years' service. But after a service of six years, or, if possible, even a shorter period, they will be sent home on furlough, and will be called in only in the event of warlike complications demanding their presence in the ranks. As regards those entering the Navy or the corps stationed in remote provinces, their time of service will be fixed by special regulations. Young men who have attended any of the schools of the Empire, whether superior or elementary, will in time of peace be allowed a reduction of their term of active service proportionate to the degree and the nature of the instruction received. Other important concessions are likewise accorded to them. While sanctioning the law drawn up in accordance with the above fundamental rules, and calling upon our subjects to acquit themselves zealously of the new duties imposed upon them, we have no intention to abandon the policy we have constantly pursued during our whole reign. We have never aspired, nor do we aspire now, to the splendour of military renown. We deem it our highest privilege to lead Russia to greatness by pacific progress and the gradual development of her domestic resources. This development will not be delayed by the formation of a powerful Army and Navy; on the contrary, steady progress is insured by securing the Empire from attack and obviating interference with its tranquillity and peace. The important advantages conceded to young men who have received instruction at schools will, it is to be hoped, act as another incentive to encourage the spread of that enlightenment which we regard as the guarantee of the future welfare of our people.-Given at St. Petersburg, January 1, ALEXANDER." It was fully believed that under the operation of this new law, if fully carried out, the Russian Army and Reserve would eventually reach a total of nearly three and a half millions of men, being actually half a million in excess of the German force, only not equal to it in practical strength, owing to the unwieldy extent of the Russian dominions. The announcement alarmed and dismayed the population in many parts of the Empire. Among the Tartars of the Russian Black Sea Provinces the dread of universal conscription was so general that all the young men secretly emigrated to Turkey, and even old men were reported to be running away in large numbers, the Turkish skippers of the Levant coast giving them every facility for a prompt and secret passage to Bulgaria and Asia Minor. Similar results being apprehended in the Western or Polish and half Polish Provinces of the Empire, the recruits levied in these districts were immediately placed in the ranks, while it was decided that those "conscripted" in Russia Proper should be summoned only in January. war. And as if the possibility of new sanguinary conflicts was indeed the prevailing idea at the Court of St. Petersburg, the event of the year which brought Russia more prominently into connection with European politics than any other was the Conference held at Brussels at the end of July to consider the expediency of introducing certain new rules into the usages of The Conference was suggested by the Russian Government, as represented by Prince Gortschakoff. Its first idea seems to have been suggested by the attempt of a private society-the Society for the Amelioration of the Condition of Prisoners of War-to induce the various Governments of Europe to send delegates to a Conference which was to have been held at Paris on May 4 for the purpose of concluding an International Treaty in furtherance of the society's object. The circular sent by this society to the various Governments bore date March 28, and was transmitted by Lord Lyons to Lord Derby on April 11. Diplomatic etiquette, as interpreted by the English Foreign Office, prevented any notice being taken of it until it should have been forwarded through the French Minister for Foreign Affairs; but the Russian Government responded promptly to the circular of the society by taking the whole matter out of their hands. From the first published despatch of Prince Gortschakoff it would seem that as early as April 6 the Prince had requested Count Brunnow to communicate to the English Government "the answer which we have returned to the proposal of the Society for the Amelioration of the Condition of Prisoners of War," and "the intention we had arrived at for laying before the Cabinets a project for an international code with the object of determining the laws and usages of warfare." So prompt was the Government of St. Petersburg, that in answer to a circular advocating an improvement in the treatment of prisoners, it had by April 17 transmitted to its representatives at Foreign Courts an elaborate programme of seventy-one Articles covering the whole ground of "the usages of war," and itself forming-as Prince Gortschakoff stated-" only a starting-point for ulterior deliberations," which, he trusted, would prepare the way for a general understanding." 66 All the countries of Europe were present at the Conference by their representatives. England, however, gave only a very qualified assent to the proceedings, Lord Derby refused to appoint any English Commissioner until the other Governments which were to take part in the Conference should have disclaimed intention of either proposing any change in the laws and usages of war, or of interfering in any way with belligerent rights at sea. This assurance being explicitly given-first by the Russian Government, and then by the other Governments concerned-Sir Alfred Horsford was nominated to be the English delegate at the Conference, but with the strict charge of referring every point to his own Government, which was not prepared to assent to a scheme for the regulation of military operations without considering such scheme in all its bearings. To this firm resolution on the part of Lord Derby it was mainly owing that the tendency, apparent in the project as originally enunciated, to enter on wide and difficult questions of International Law was checked at the outset. The delegates were indeed from time to time tempted into discussions which made it necessary for Sir Alfred Horsford to take his stand upon the distinct assurance given on this point to Her Majesty's Government by all the Powers represented; but in general the Conference did not lose sight of its proper objects. The representatives of the smaller Powers were not unnaturally alarmed by proposals on the part of Russia and Germany which seemed to limit the right of defence. General Voigts Rhetz, the German Envoy, who took a principal part in the discussion, plausibly contended that it was for the interest of the weaker as well as of the |