of peace, which during his reign was not once broken, will not cease to be respected.

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The will of the Most High be done! May our unshaken faith in the wisdom of Providence give us strength! May we be consoled by the consciousness that our sorrow is the sorrow of the whole of our beloved people, and may our people not forget that the strength and stability of Holy Russia lie in her unity with us, and in her unbounded devotion to us.

"We, however, in this sad but solemn hour, when ascending the ancestral throne of the Russian Empire and of the Czardom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland, indissolubly connected with it, remember the legacy left to us by our departed father, and, inspired by it, we, in the presence of the Most High, record the solemn vow always to make our sole aim the peaceful development of the power and glory of our beloved Russia and the happiness of all our faithful subjects. May the Almighty, who has chosen us for this high calling, vouchsafe us His aid, while we offer before the Throne of the Almighty Ruler our heartfelt prayers for the unstained soul of the departed.

"We command our subjects to take the oath of allegiance to ourselves and to our successor, the Grand Duke George Alexandrovitch, who will bear the title of Crown Prince and Czarevitch, until it please God to bless our approaching union with the Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt with the birth of a

son.

"Given at Livadia this 20th day of October, 1894.

"NICHOLAS."

The Czar's marriage to the Princess Alix of Hesse took place on November 27, and on this occasion, for the first time in recent Russian history, the troops were withdrawn from the line of route, and no restraint was placed upon the erection of temporary stands, the climbing of lamp-posts, and the occupation of every coign of vantage, exactly as is done in London on the occasion of any State pageant. The official programme indicated that there would be cavalry escorts before and behind the carriage; so when it appeared without a single mounted soldier, and passed slowly down the Nevsky Prospect, the delight of the people was boundless. Up to late at night the crowd continued singing and cheering opposite the Anitchkoff Palace. By thus showing his confidence in the nation on the day of his marriage, the young Czar leaped into great popularity at St. Petersburg.

On the same day an imperial manifesto was issued, granting an amnesty to various categories of Siberian exiles, reducing the rate of interest on loans obtained for the nobility from the Imperial Agrarian Bank, and allowing the peasants a remission of certain debts due to the Crown and of arrears of taxation.

The deputation from the Kingdom of Poland, consisting of representatives of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, attended

both the funeral and the wedding, and were received with marked attention at the imperial court. They had an opportunity of laying before the authorities a statement as to the tyranny and brutality with which General Gourko had governed the kingdom during the past twelve years, and the general, who was in ill-health, was removed from his post shortly after the return of the deputation to Warsaw. This naturally produced great rejoicings in the Polish capital, and it was hoped that his successor, Count Schouvaloff, whose mother was a Pole, and who, as ambassador at Berlin, had become very popular on account of his charming manners and liberal views, would introduce a more just and humane system of government in the Polish Kingdom.

In foreign affairs both the old and the new Czar continued the pacific policy of former years, without, however, allowing any relaxation in the supply of increased armaments. In September large bodies of troops were moved from the Caucasus to Russian Poland, and in December, after four new ironclads had been launched, the construction was begun of three new cruisers and a gunboat. With England the relations were friendly throughout the year, notwithstanding the vapourings of the Moscow Gazette, and they were especially so after the accession of Nicholas II. The question of the Pamirs was satisfactorily settled at the end of the year by an understanding arrived at both between England and Russia, and between those powers and China. It was universally remarked that the stay of the Prince of Wales at St. Petersburg for the funeral of the late Czar and the wedding of the new one had greatly contributed to the re-establishment of cordial relations between Great Britain and Russia. With Germany, too, a more friendly feeling was established by the conclusion of the RussoGerman Commercial Treaty (see under "Germany").

An extremely bad feeling was created at St. Petersburg by the action of France in imposing extra duties upon the import of cereals. It was not so much the actual damage accruing to Russian trade, as the export of grain to France is a perfectly insignificant fraction of the total; but the Russians complained that while France had in many respects gained by the new German Treaty under the most-favoured-nation clause, she showed resentment at the approach of Russia to Germany by an enactment which definitively closed the trade that was beginning to arise between Odessa and Marseilles.

The accession of the new Czar, indeed, was followed by a series of incidents which seemed to indicate the probability of a new grouping of the European powers in which Russia would side rather with England and the Triple Alliance than with France. One of these incidents was the telegram addressed personally by the Czar to Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria in reply to the latter's congratulations on his accession. This was regarded as possibly a first step to a reconciliation between

Bulgaria and Russia, and it considerably strengthened the Russophile party in the former country.

II. TURKEY AND THE MINOR STATES OF EASTERN EUROPE.

The most important question in Eastern Europe during the year was that of the outrages stated to have been committed in November by the Turkish troops in the Sassun district of Armenia, owing to the refusal of the population to pay the taxes, on the plea that the frequent depredations of the Kurds had so impoverished them that they were no longer in a position to meet their fiscal obligations. The authorities sought to enforce payment with the assistance of the troops immediately available. But these, not being in sufficient force, were beaten off, and for the time being the Christian mountaineers were triumphant. Meanwhile, the Governor of Bitlis Hissar, informed of what had taken place, advised the Porte that a serious insurrection had broken out, and obtained permission to send all the troops he could collect to the disturbed district.

Marshall Zeki Pasha, commanding the Fourth Army Corps, stationed at Erzingan, accordingly received orders to proceed to Sassun and take charge of the operations. Before, however, he could obey his instructions, the troops of the Governor of Bitlis had arrived on the scene, and, with the troops coming from other directions, formed an imposing force of regulars of all arms. These, it was alleged, opened fire upon the defenceless people, and only rested from their labours when twenty-five villages had been destroyed and some thousands of human beings killed.

The Porte, on the other hand, published the following official account of the affair:

"Some Armenian brigands, provided with arms of foreign origin, joined an insurgent Kurd tribe for the purpose of committing excesses, and they burned and devastated several Mussulman villages. To give an idea of the ferocity of these Armenian bands, it is reported that, among other abominable crimes, they burned alive a Mussulman notable.

"Regular troops were sent to the scene to protect the peaceable inhabitants from these depredations. The Ottoman troops not only protected and respected the submissive portion of the population, as well as the women and children, but reestablished order and tranquillity to the general satisfaction. It is not true that the Kurds seized the furniture, effects, and cattle of the fugitive Armenians. The latter took their property into the mountains before breaking out into revolt, and confided them to the care of eir Kurdish acolytes. The Armenian women at present with the Kurds belong to the families of the brigands, and went of their own accord with their husbands to the insurgent Kurds.

'As regards the Armenian villages which are said to have

been destroyed, it was the Armenians who carried off all their belongings from their own villages before giving themselves up to brigandage."

A commission was appointed by the Sultan to investigate the matter, but as it was composed entirely of Turkish dignitaries, and its instructions were stated to limit the investigations to the acts of "the Armenian brigands," there seemed to be no prospect of the inquiry being either impartial or complete. Under the Treaty of Berlin, Turkey holds Armenia on the condition that the Armenians should not be misgoverned; and the Powers accordingly made representations to the Porte on the subject, upon which the latter agreed (Dec. 12) that delegates of Great Britain, Russia, and France should attend the sittings of the commission for the purpose of inquiring into and reporting upon the alleged outrages. These delegates were to have the right to put questions to the witnesses under examination, to sign the record of the proceedings at each sitting of the commission, and to embody the results of the investigation in separate reports to their respective Governments. The grant of a decoration to Zeki Pasha, however (Dec. 26), did not encourage the hope that the Porte would at length see that justice was done in Armenia.

In March a dispute occurred between the Turkish and Bulgarian Governments in regard to the Bulgarian schools in Macedonia. The Porte had sent a school inspector, who announced that the right enjoyed by the Bulgarian and Armenian Churches to exercise absolute control over the schools founded and maintained by them was to be withdrawn ; that direct control by Turkish functionaries would be introduced, and that henceforward no permission to open new schools would be given to the authorities of Christian Churches. Such concessions were in future only to be granted to individuals who intended to found Bulgarian or Armenian schools, and would satisfy the Turkish authorities that their teaching would not be against the Turkish regulations. At the same time, however, no restrictions were announced in the case of the Greek and Servian schools in Macedonia, and this difference of treatment was felt as an injustice, especially by the Bulgarians, who maintained about 500 schools in Turkish territory.

While the Bulgarian Exarch in Constantinople was protesting against the intended measure, the Turkish Governor General of the Vilayet of Kossovo ordered a number of Bulgarian schools to be closed, on the pretence that the teaching in them was hostile to Turkish interests. The matter was taken up by the Bulgarian press; a public meeting of Macedonians was allowed to take place in Sofia, and the Bulgarian papers threatened the Porte with reprisals, as, for instance, by the closing of the Turkish schools in Bulgaria, the dismissal of Mohammedan functionaries in the Principality, and the raising of the Macedonian question in its entirety.

The agitation was backed up by the Bulgarian Government, and ultimately the Sultan not only satisfied all the Bulgarian demands as to the schools in Macedonia, but appointed two new Bulgarian bishops in that province. M. Stambouloff, in his Note to Turkey of June 16, 1890, had demanded recognition from the Suzerain, and not from Russia, and the result was that almost immediately afterwards the Berat granting two Bulgarian bishops to Macedonia, those of Uskup and Ochrida, was issued and adhered to in spite of the Russian ambassador's protests.

The Exarch of the Autonomous Bulgarian Church was installed in Constantinople, and six bishops had been promised to the Bulgarians living in Turkey outside Bulgaria proper. Of these, only two bishops had been appointed for Macedonia, and during the war of 1878 even they were removed from their sees. They were, however, reappointed in 1890, and now the original promise was fulfilled to the letter, as the fifth and sixth bishops were intended for what is now Southern Bulgaria, and, therefore, no longer under Turkish jurisdiction. This was a great success for Bulgaria, as Macedonia, where nationality goes with the Church and the schools, was practically given over to the Bulgarians. The number of Bulgarian schools in the province of Salonica was last year stated to be 442 for boys, and 177 for girls, besides 119 schools in the province of Adrianopolis. There was now every probability that they would quickly multiply, and serve as Bulgarian barracks within the Turkish fortress."

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This result was received with enthusiasm by the Bulgarians, and in a speech delivered by M. Stambouloff to the crowd from the balcony of his house, he said that all the highest achievements of Bulgaria dated from the union with Eastern Roumelia, when Russian enmity gave birth to Turkish friendship. The Bulgarians, since they had been thrown back on their own resources, were in a stronger position for safeguarding their interests than when they were still under foreign tutelage, inasmuch as they were enabled to be on better terms with the Suzerain Power. Those who guided the fortunes of Bulgaria would always be actuated by gratitude to the Sultan and friendship for Turkey. He ended his speech by calling for cheers for the Sultan, in which all the crowd joined heartily.

His triumph, however, was short-lived. On May 29 it was announced that his Ministry had resigned, and that Prince Ferdinand had called upon M. Stoiloff, formerly Minister of Justice, who had negotiated with the Prince for the acceptance of the Bulgarian throne, to form a new Cabinet.

It had been known for a long time past that there was considerable friction between M. Starabouloff and Prince Ferdinand, occasioned as much by differences of character as by any disagreement on important affairs of State. M. Stambouloff, who was always of a rather arbitrary disposition, had