the Congo

The treaty annexing the Congo Independent State to Belgium was signed on Belgium November 28 by the pleniand potentiaries of both the parties involved. By it the sovereignty of all the territories of the Congo Independent State is ceded by King Leopold, and this includes his private domain therein, which, it has been supposed, he would retain under his own control. Belgium agrees to recognize the rights of all foreign companies established in the Congo, and assumes all the liabilities and financial engagements of the state. Its assets are set down at $24,000,000 and its liabilities at $23,000,000. The date for the assumption of sovereignty by Belgium is to be fixed by royal decree, but that country is to be answerable for the financial administration of the state from January 1, 1908. As stated by Premier de Roos, the revenues of the crown domain are to be employed in public benefits both for the Congo and Belgium, in the establishment of hospitals, schools and churches.

The strong feeling aroused in Germany by the recent revelations of scandalous

Chancellor proceedings in high circles Von Buelow and has caused hot debates in the Reichstag the reichstag. When the government budget was presented, revealing an increasing deficit and asking for heavier taxation for the strengthening of the navy, a new situation developed. The Socialist, Herr Bebel, improved the occasion by calling attention to the high prices for provisions prevailing and the large He number of unemployed in Berlin. stated that there were already between thirty thousand and forty thousand of the latter, and that, according to the official count, 4,841 school-children had no

dinner. The strength of the opposition and the wavering loyalty of the National Liberals, who criticized the government's financial measures, threatened a ministerial crisis. Chancellor von Buelow checked his opponents by a move practically revolutionary in German governmental methods. He called together leaders of the Conservatives, National Liberals, Radicals and Agrarians, and informed them that he would ask the emperor for leave to retire unless he could rely for a majority upon the coalition. He asked them to confer with their followers and then inform him as to the prospect for unity. The resulting vote of confidence precipitated a stormy session the following day, for the announcement was greeted with derisive laughter and hooting by the Clericalists and Socialists. The confusion became so great that the president was unable to restore order. The Socialists asserted that the rights of the minority had been overridden, it being evident that there was a prearrangement as to who should speak. The leaders of the "bloc" moved the closure. Dr. Bethmann-Holleeg, minister of the interior, attempted to speak, but he and others failed to get a hearing, and the session was adjourned. The action of the chancellor practically establishes the responsibility of the ministry to the reichstag instead of to the emperor.

His

by whom he was greatly beloved. generosity and consideration for their welfare was constantly in evidence. As a statesman and as a writer King Oscar has been distinguished among the European monarchs, while he has excelled many of them in the purity of his life. He was eminently a home-loving king, and was noted for the simplicity in which he lived. It is indicative of the man that by his wish the funeral ceremonies are to be very simple, and there is to be no formal national mourning. For many years past King Oscar has been in ill health, and on more than one occasion has been compelled to turn over to his eldest son the management of governmental affairs. At the age of seventy-eight he has finally laid