Use of con Every year they will become more marked. One problem of extraordinary interest is beVoting worked out along the line. Convict labor, under a gang system, is being applied to the building of the railway. In the western and central sections, at least, it is said to be attended with excellent results. For prisoners, eight months of railway labor reckons as one year's imprisonment, and exiles have their terms shortened by counting one year as two. They are working out their own salvation. onization. A yet more tremendous question, for Russia and for other countries, is that of the free colFree colonization of Siberia. This has at length begun in earnest. The running eastward of the line into the fertile plains of the Irtish and the Obi has been like cutting a gap in a dam. A rush of emigrants from the crowded communes of Great and Little Russia has followed, and every year it has grown in volume. The temptations held out by the government to the peasants to settle in the provinces of Tobolsk and Tomsk cheap railway fares and a free allotment of forty-three acres of Crown land-do not seem extravagant, considering the remoteness of the scene and the severity of the winter climate. But they have been sufficient to set a great human tide flowing eastward. [In 1887, President Grévy is forced to resign in consequence of corruption by his son Stanley the Albert Nyanza. in-law, Wilson. Ferdinand of Coburg succeeds Alexander in Bulgaria. Stanley starts discovers to find Emin Pasha and discovers the Albert Edward Edward Nyanza. In 1888, County Councils are created in England. The Lick Observatory in California begins work. In 1889, the Panama Canal Company becomes bankrupt. The Crown Prince of Austria commits suicide. King Milan of Servia abdicates in favor of his son, Alexander. Brazil becomes a Re-Brazil a public. The British South Africa Company Republic. receives a charter. The Eiffel Tower is built. Japan sets up constitutional government. In 1890, in consequence of a divorce suit the Parnellites are disrupted. England cedes Heligoland to Germany. Spain receives universal suffrage. Germany, England and France agree on their African boundaries. The French capture Timbuctoo. The Forth bridge is completed. The Russian Jews are persecuted. Baron Hirsch organizes colonies in Argentina. The first May Day celebration of labor is held. The bank of Baring Brothers fails. In 1891, England obtains pre-emption of the Portuguese territories in Africa. In 1892, the Pope orders Catholics to accept the French Republic. In 1893, the Bering Sea arbitration in Paris decides against the United States. A World's Fair is held in Chicago. Cosition France gains territory and privileges in Siam. held. The Matabele are conquered in South Africa. New Zealand adopts the franchise for women. World's President Carnot murdered. In 1894, parish councils are created in England. President Carnot of France is murdered. The Dreyfus case is begun by the arrest of the captain as a spy. A revolt makes the King of Corea call upon China for assistance. Japan sends troops also and proposes joint action. After much dispute, war breaks out between China and Japan. The latter captures Port Arthur.] THE BATTLE OF THE YALU THE (A.D. 1894) EASTLAKE AND YOSHI-AKI between HE victories achieved by the arms of Japan were very evenly divided between the two branches of the service. If the land-troops carried all before them at Phyöngyang, Kangwasae, Newchwang, and a dozen other places, the fleet was no less successful off Phungdo, in the Yellow Sea, and at Wei-hai-wei. The naval engagement of the Yellow Sea, better known by the style of the Fight of Haiyang-an important island near the scene of the conflict-is unique in the an- First battle nals of this century. For here, for the first modern time on record since the great change in naval construction, two fleets of the most modern and powerful type met in deadly warfare, the result being significant of the tremendous nature of the weapons now employed by "civilized" nations and the fury with which the battle was fought on both sides. It was a deadly grapple between two ancient foes, with all the skill on one side and all the victory; though the Chinese did not fall behind in point of bravery warships. Causes of China's defeat. Vessels of the feet. and determined pluck. According to naval experts in this part of the world, the Chinese were defeated primarily because of their execrable tactics, and secondarily because they had no ships so swift as one or two of those on the Japanese side. Moreover, the Japanese vessels fought intelligently, as a compact whole; while the Chinese warships, with the exception perhaps of the two great ironclads, failed to work in harmony and at no time brought their full strength to bear on the foe. It was on September 16, 1894, that the Japanese fleet left the temporary anchorage at the mouth of the Taidong River. The next day, after a fruitless cruise near the Korean littoral, the fleet made for the island of Haiyang, an island of importance, as already pointed out, and one which commanded the approach to the Kinchow Peninsula. The Yoshino, TakaJapanese chicho, Akitsushima, and Naniwa, in the order named, forming the First Flying Squadron, led the van, the flag of Rear-Admiral Tsuboi Kozo flying on the Yoshino. The following, Principal, Squadron was composed of the Chiyoda, Itsukushima, Hashidate, Hiyei, and Fuso, with the Matsushima as flagship, Vice-Admiral Ito Sukehiro, Commander-in-Chief, being on board. Close behind followed the gunboat Akagi and the ex-merchant-steamer Saikyo Maru, transformed into a cruiser for the time being. At 6.30 A.M. the island was sighted, and the harbor—a fine |