were passed at the Liberal, and in support of the Ministry at the Conservative, meetings. Numerous addresses, expressing sympathy with the accused Ministers, were signed, and for some time the columns of the leading Ministerial organ were filled with the signatures of these addresses. But the Liberals followed suit, and their addresses to the President of the Storthing, expressing confidence in the representatives of the people, soon outnumbered those of their opponents.

The increased interest in politics was further shown in the numerous Liberal and Conservative Associations which were also formed this year in all parts of the country; and toward the close of the year it was decided to form a National Liberal League, with its centre at Christiania, to which deputies from the various Liberal Associations were summoned to meet in the capital after Christmas. The programme of the League was national and local self-government; and its basis, the monarchy, the constitution, and union with Sweden. Apart from the impeachment question, the Storthing had had before it few measures of public interest. The discussion on the Budget, which showed a revenue of 2,293,000l. and an expenditure of 2,280,000l., passed without alteration.

Amongst the measures of the Session may be enumerated, (1) a Bill for the better protection of the property and privileges of the Norwegian and Swedish Lapps in the North of Norway; (2) Bill for the restitution of civil rights to persons who, having been convicted and sentenced for any crime, desired to become respectable members of the community again, and were able to give proofs of having lived a blameless life for five years after the expiration of the sentence; (3) Bill for extending the civil rights of Dissenters. This, however, did not become law, as it was agreed to postpone it for a year, in order to enable the Government to obtain further information on the subject. The Government again asked the Storthing for an increase in the appanage of the Crown Prince; but this was rejected for the third time, by 80 against 32.

Outside the Parliamentary struggle, and the questions bearing thereon, few events occurred of sufficient general interest to call for remark.

A "Workmen's Ring," similar to the one established this year in Sweden, was also formed at Christiania, and hopes were entertained by its projectors that in all the principal towns branches would in course of time be established.

A National Industrial Exhibition was held during this summer at Christiania, which testified most encouragingly to the great progress made in the various industries of the country.

The emigration to America, which for many years had been assuming alarming dimensions, showed a distinct diminution, although the cod-fisheries, one of the most important industries of the country, had been an almost complete failure; on the other hand, however, the timber and other trades showed greater activity, and the general condition of the country was fairly prosperous.

CHAPTER V.

AMERICA.

UNITED STATES.-CANADA.-MEXICO.-WEST INDIES.-BRAZIL.

AND PERU.

-CHILI

UNITED STATES.

IN his annual Message to Congress, at the opening of the Session 1882-83, President Arthur took occasion to renew his former recommendation that the Tariff Laws needed revision, and expressed the hope that the Tariff Commission's labours (see ANNUAL REGISTER, 1882, pp. 289, 290) might facilitate the action of Congress. Bills introduced on this subject in both branches of the Legislature led to the most exciting and obstinate debates of the Session. Ultimately, the Republican party, by a resort to the novel expedient of changing the rules of the House of Representatives, so as to force the Bill through, succeeded in doing so, within a few hours of the day when the Forty-seventh Congress ceased to exist. On the 4th of March that Congress came to an end; and on the evening of the 3rd the Bill passed both Houses, and immediately afterwards received the President's signature. It was the most important law of the Session, and became fully operative on July 1 following. The subject was one which had monopolised the principal share of public attention for a long time. The country had grown restive under the enormous annual surplus which the systems of taxes were yielding, and various proposals had from time to time been made as to the methods of reducing it. The difficulty in which the United States Government had found itself was a very peculiar one. The successive increase of revenue over expenditure was reducing the National Debt so rapidly that practical inconveniences were already being experienced, and greater were apprehended. In the financial year 1883, for example, besides 45 millions of dollars applied under the provisions of the law to the Sinking Fund, there was a further surplus of 39 millions of dollars. In the financial year yet to come, it was estimated that there would be a surplus of 60 millions. The President had more than once directed the attention of Congress to the inconvenience of this rapid reduction of the National Debt, and the excessive taxation by which that reduction was maintained. The Tariff Law was confessedly framed to mitigate the evil, though it must be admitted it does so in a way that has not commended itself to the practical good sense of a large and increasingly influential section of the Democratic party, and it cannot in any sense be considered a settlement of the question of Protection versus Free Trade. By the repeal of the

inland taxes which the new law enacts, and the rearrangement of the customs duties-for it can hardly be called a tariff reduction, having been framed entirely in the Protectionist interest-the revenues of the next fiscal year (1884) are expected to be reduced about 75 millions of dollars. This decreased income, with increased expenditures on account of pensions, and for some other purposes, will, it has been estimated, reduce the surplus available for the above-stated year for debt reduction to within 50 millions of dollars.

While the new law in its general structure closely resembles the old one, there are many important differences between the two Acts, a few of which are of a general nature, but most of which affect the classification of articles or the rates of duty imposed upon them. The most comprehensive commentary on the new law will be found in the work of Mr. Charles F. Williams, Chief Clerk to the late Tariff Commission ("The Tariff Laws of the United States, with Explanatory Notes," &c., Boston, 1883), and to this we would refer the reader for detailed information in regard to the several changes in the rates of duties upon imports which it embodies. All that we can here do is, to give a brief synopsis of the more important sections of the Act, so far as they seem to affect British manufactures. The old law contained a provision for the protection of American manufacturers of watches, watchcases, watch-movements, or parts of the same, by prohibiting the importation by anybody else of such articles of foreign manufacture which should " copy or simulate" the name or trade mark of any domestic manufacturer. In the new law the same provision is found, but the application of the principle is widened so as to include all other articles of foreign manufacture. What was known as the "similitude" section of the old law provided that non-enumerated articles—that is to say, those not set down in any of the numerous schedules of the Act--should pay the same rates of duty that were imposed upon enumerated articles which they most nearly resembled, either in material, quality, texture, or use; that if any non-enumerated article should equally resemble two or more enumerated articles, it should pay the same rate as was chargeable on the article which it resembled paying the highest rate of duty; that all articles manufactured from two or more materials should pay the highest rate of duty at which any of their component parts were chargeable. By the new law it is provided, that such articles shall pay the same rate of duty which is assessed upon the component part of chief value which each may contain. The new law also contains an additional clause as follows:-" If two or more rates of duty should be applicable to any imported article, it shall be classified for duty under the highest of such rates." This applies to enumerated as well as to non-enumerated articles. The new law also contains this clause :-" Provided, that non-enumerated articles similar in material and quality and texture, and the use to which they may be applied, to articles on

the free list, and in the manufacture of which no dutiable materials shall be used, shall be free."

The classifications of articles for duty by the new law are much more comprehensive, and at the same time more definite, than by the old one, from which also they widely differ in many respects, making it often extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible, to institute comparisons of rates. Under the new law, the number of unenumerated and unclassified articles has been greatly reduced. The number of paragraphs into which the "Dutiable List" was divided by the old law was 534; in the new law it is only 495, but the paragraphs, as a rule, are far more comprehensive. The number of paragraphs in the "Free List" of the old law was 357; in the new law the number is only 326, although the list has been actually increased by the addition of 50 articles which were dutiable under the old law. Mr. Saurin, Secretary of the British Legation at Washington, in some remarks appended to the Board of Trade Return (“United States Tariff": Ordered by the House of Commons to be Printed, April 2, 1883), is unable to form a definite opinion of the probable effect of the Act on British trade. On the whole, he thought it probable that it would be slight. In the lower-priced woollen and cotton products, British imports might be stimulated, while in decorated china and earthenware they might be checked. But, as far as he could judge, the effect would not go much beyond this. Altogether, a study of the new Tariff from an English point of view suggests the conviction that the object of the Conference Committee of both Houses (to which the Bill was referred in the closing hours of the last Session of the Fortyseventh Congress) was to maintain Protection while reducing the revenue raised by customs duties, and that it effected this by making the smallest possible reductions in import duties, and lowering very largely the duties on articles of American production. It is authoritatively stated that only the extreme pressure of time incident to a night-session of the above-mentioned Committee, at the last, prevented the Bill proposed by the Tariff Commission (see ANNUAL REGISTER, 1882, p. 290), for the establishment of a Customs Court, from becoming law. This important adjunct of the Tariff Law has, it is hoped, only been postponed for the further consideration of the Legislature. It is one of the reforms most urgently needed in connection with the present Protective system of the United States of America.

In the early part of the Session (January 9), which lasted only three months (December 4, 1882 to March 4, 1883), the Senate passed the Presidential Succession Bill, which provides that in case of the death, resignation, or inability of the President or Vice-President, the Cabinet officers in succession, beginning with the Secretary of State, shall succeed him. In case Congress is not in session, or is not to meet within thirty days, the Acting-President shall call Congress together. Among other measures of legislation which passed into law was one dealing with the Japanese Indem

nity Fund which had been held in the Federal Treasury for so many years. This was ordered to be returned to Japan, though all interest was cut off. The President was also instructed upon July 1 to give Her Majesty's Government the necessary two years' notice for terminating the fishery provisions of the Treaty of Washington. This was unanimously done, both Houses acceding to the strong sentiment on the subject current in the New England States, where the fisheries are, it is stated, seriously hampered by the free competition of the British maritime provinces. This, like the Tariff, was a Protectionist movement. Other than these Acts, little legislation was matured in the last sittings of the Fortyseventh Congress. During the two years it existed there were no fewer than 10,670 Bills introduced, 8,018 in the House and 2,652 in the Senate. Besides the Supply Bills, only 163 of them had passed in the Session ended March 4, 1883. The Supply Bills passed during the Winter Session (1882-83) of the Legislature voted an aggregate of 229,327,511 dollars, exclusive of interest on the public debt, while the aggregate of the supplies voted in the previous Session was 219,367,933 dollars.

The state of parties in the United States in the summer of 1883 showed the Democrats to be in the ascendant. They had the advantage of controlling the House by a considerable majority, and also the administrations of such important Northern States as New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, and Kansas, and almost the entire South. The elections of the preceding autumn achieved almost a political revolution, turning over all those States from their original Republican allegiance, and some of these by large majorities. Hence the Democrats secured many advantages in patronage and power which gave abundant promise of success for their party in the great final issue, the Presidential Election of 1884. Those advantages were, perhaps, slightly curtailed by the results of the 1883 State elections. The Democratic majorities for New Jersey are 5,000, for Maryland 12,000, and for Virginia 12,000. The Democrats also carried Mississippi, and elected the majority of the Legislature for Virginia, thus securing the return of one of their party as United States' Senator in the place of Mr. Mason. The Republican majorities were: For Massachusetts, 10,000; for Nebraska, 10,000; for Minnesota, 15,000; and for Pennsylvania, 17,000. The Republican candidate for the post of State Secretary of New York had a majority of about 13,000. The Republicans had a majority in the New York Legislature; but the regular democracy carried New York county. The elections for members of the Legislature of Connecticut also showed Republican gains. The Government of President Arthur, however, at the close of the year, still found. itself face to face with a hostile majority in the House of Representatives, if not in the Senate also. The Republican party was in the hands of comparatively new men almost everywhere; but