again the funds are lacking, and it is not a rare thing to see sick clerks almost dying of hunger administratively. To lift the veil which hides these miseries would carry us to too great a length. Suffice it to say that if a civilian War Office clerk falls ill his salary ceases, although he is still obliged to contribute to the pension fund if he wishes to retain his right to a retiring allowance. The same is the case in the naval service, where as many as 33,250 civilians are employed.

One of the hardest-worked services is the Post Office, yet we know only too well how defective it is. Here also the axe of the reformer might be wielded with advantage. The men of low rank receive miserable salaries, and the higher ones, with a few exceptions, are only indifferently paid. They number 65,000 and are overloaded with work. If the inclination existed, the work might be reduced by one-half. It is a matter of organisation. Visitors to post offices have to do with clerks who are not invariably anxious to keep them as short a time as possible or even to be civil. Still, one cannot blame them very severely, seeing the red-tape methods they are obliged to follow, such as making lengthy double entries, which the customer has to dictate, weighing the letters, inspecting the envelopes, counting the seals, making sure that the stamps-if it is a registered letter-have a certain interval between them, and, in the case of a money order, cutting off order, advice, and receipt with a pair of scissors.

The scissors of the French postal clerk are the queerest instrument imaginable in connection with that service, excepting the postoffice omnibus, which is a thing more wonderful still. These obstructive vehicles are one of the sights of Paris. Their purpose might be supposed to be the transport of letters, book packets, and such like. So it is, but they convey at the same time the postmen who are going to deliver them. Starting from the General Post Office, they go to the four corners of the city, dropping the men here and there en route. Paris has a system of pneumatic tubes which is said to be copied from that of London, but it is a poor imitation. The tubes are too small to carry anything but little cards, open or closed, which are astonishingly expensive. They cost thirty centimes, fifty centimes, and seventy-five centimes. These several prices are evidently based on the colours of the cards, for there cannot be more difficulty in carrying one sort than another.

The most serious of the inconveniences inflicted on the public by the complicated entries which the clerks have to make is that on certain days in the large cities-at Paris especially-it is hopeless to think of approaching the counters. We have seen thirty persons waiting at the money-order wicket of a post office. The wicket was blocked by a railway clerk who was sending pensions to all the company's retired servants. There were several hundred, and in

each case the name, position, and address had to be entered by the postal clerk in a register, written on an order form, again written on an advice form and on a receipt, and these papers cut out of the book with the famous pair of scissors. With these examples before us, it seems scarcely credible that France should have traversed five or six revolutions in less than a hundred and twenty-five years on the pretext of securing liberty and reform.

In France the postal system is not considered a public service, but a revenue-producing department. Consequently the governments which so rapidly succeed each other are unwilling to make any change. They all need a great deal of money in order to satisfy the appetites of their partisans; and as the Army and Navy exact unproductive sacrifices which grow heavier every year, it is not to be expected that an administration essentially unstable should abandon the sure proceeds of its monopolies-post office, tobacco, and matches. The revenue derived from the two latter of these sources would probably expand if the government furnished consumers with better matches and tobacco. As to the Post Office, if France would follow Great Britain's example and reduce the postage rates by two-thirds, there is not the slightest doubt but that the proceeds would drop to less than one-half and for at least a couple of years the Treasury would have to face a loss. Where is the French ministry that can count on an existence of two years? Therefore, it is only by clearing the service of all the useless formalities and circumlocution with which it is encumbered that we can hope to realise those cheaper rates demanded by all Frenchmen, but impossible of attainment under the present system of government. But we shall never see a ministry courageous enough and strong enough to do away, even by redemption, with five or six thousand useless servants.

To illustrate the great difference there is between British and French postage rates, we will say that while in the United Kingdom the inland postage for a letter weighing 4 oz. is one penny, in France it is 1f. 20 or 114d.; and that it costs one as much to send a postcard from Paris to Versailles, for instance, as from France to San Francisco.

What is true of the Post Office is also true of every other department of the State. If we cast a rapid glance over the estimates of the departments of Justice and Finance we shall be astounded at the great multitude of officials employed to do in the former so little work and in the latter such simple work. Nothing is easier than to receive the taxpayers' money or enter mortgages in a register. These duties do not call for any effort of genius, and yet they are the best paid for. The trésoriers-payeurs are the nabobs of the hierarchy of functionaries. There are some who receive 164,000 francs per annum. This is not their salary, which is small; but they have a commission on the money paid in, as well as an allowance for their staff. In

former times the post of trésorier-payeur was a really important one. They were then called receveurs-généraux, and did not perform the duties of payers, which are not of great consequence. They received the funds which the collectors and other officials paid over to them, and were responsible therefor to the public treasury. But that was not all. They were practically the bankers of the Government, and were expected to provide it with money when required. Nowadays, they simply pay in the funds they have received, and we do not see that their present functions, which do not necessitate the possession of capital, call for such high remuneration. Their work is done for them by poorly paid subordinates. It is true that they have to give security, but they receive interest thereon. Often enough, the security is provided by the high-placed protector who procures the post for the man, and the bondsman receives the interest paid by the government, and interest from his client to boot. The law does not forbid such practices, and a member of Parliament who proposed to put an end to them would get no support from his colleagues.

The officials connected with the Ministry of Justice are but little less numerous than those of the Treasury. There are 359 courts of first instance, in which justice is dispensed by 3,420 magistrates (judges, State attorneys, assistant attorneys, and clerks). At Paris these officials number 179. Twenty-six courts of appeal employ 763 persons. The Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation), which sits at Paris, has a staff of fifty-six. The latter are the best paid, yet, taking into account the great forensic learning they have to possess, they are only very moderately remunerated. Alongside the Supreme Court, and standing on the same rank, there is the Council of State, with a staff of ninety-five. These also are judges, but they deal only with administrative questions. This is not all. In France, justice is rendered in small civil cases by 2,872 justices of the peace, assisted by an equal number of clerks, and seconded by as many deputy justices. Adding together all these figures, and including sixty-eight employés of the Conseil d'Etat, and the judicial staff in Algeria and Tunis, we reach a total of nearly 14,000 functionaries. With such a large organisation, justice ought to be administered better in France than anywhere else in the world.

To complete the enumeration of the officials attached to the big and costly governmental machine we should have to add those who, while performing duties of a municipal or parochial character, belong to and are essential organs of the central administration. To the number of at least 80,000, the mayors and deputy-mayors of the 36,097 townships are largely answerable to the prefect of their respective département or county. We should have to add, too, the town councillors, who number from ten to sixty in each town. The town councils are elective bodies, but as the government has the right to dissolve them, they cannot be considered independent. At Paris,

in defiance of the law, the municipal councillors vote themselves salaries, thereby coming within the category of paid officials. Only to the district or ward councils-conseils d'arrondissement-whose sole duty consists in assessing the taxes among the townships, is the term functionaries inapplicable; but they have no weight in the play of our institutions. As to the conseils-généraux (county councils), they wield a certain amount of authority and enjoy just a shade of independence. They can keep the prefects in check, but it is rare for any importance to be attached to their recommendations, and they are functionaries all the same. So, too, are the members of the conseils de fabriques (vestry-boards). The government, by placing a check on them, has made veritable officials of them.

We have said nothing about the Cour des Comptes (AccountantGeneral's office). It checks the government's receipts and expenditure, sees that the accounts are correctly added up, and becomes uneasy if they are not always accompanied by the proper vouchers. It ventures to make remarks, at which the government smiles and takes no notice. If ministers stopped at trifles of that kind, they would never be able to manipulate the electorate.

ALPHONSE DE CALONNE.

THE FUTURE OF

THE ANGLO-AFGHAN ALLIANCE

AT the commencement of the present tribal disturbances on the NorthWestern Frontiers of India, a few months ago, I pointed out in this Review that the serious attacks which were then being made among influential quarters in this country upon the loyalty of the Ameer had no foundation whatever, maintaining that Abdur Rahman Khan was too wise and faithful a ruler to risk the rupture of the Anglo-Afghan Alliance by any surreptitious combination with the enemies of the Queen Empress. Time has proved, only too clearly, the veracity and correctness of my remarks. As questions of grave importance concerning the North-Western Frontiers of India will be soon brought before Parliament, the moment is not inopportune for the discussion of the future relations of the Government of India with the Ameer and the tribesmen. To understand the question thoroughly, it is necessary to have a bird's-eye view of the situation in Afghanistan, and to ascertain the extent of the power and prestige exercised by her ruler in home and foreign affairs.

Abdur Rahman Khan, the recognised ally of Great Britain, is the maker of modern Afghanistan. His genius in administration, his skill in diplomacy, his valour in the field, his wit in conversation, and his faithfulness in friendship have won for him a unique place among the rulers of Asia. Before his accession to the throne Afghanistan could hardly be called a nation. Like Scotland of ancient times, she was divided into numerous tribes, which were separated from each other by irreconcilable jealousies and hatred, culminating in ceaseless fratricidal warfare. Chaos reigned supreme in the country, each individual being a law unto himself. Such a country on the frontiers of British India was a source of perpetual menace to her peaceful progress. On the other hand, a strong Afghanistan, a united Afghanistan, and a prosperous Afghanistan could be of immense service to Great Britain against a formidable European enemy thundering at the northern gates of India. Happy was the thought and auspicious the moment which brought Abdur Rahman Khan from his exile in Russia to the throne of Cabul. After the