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OESEL AND DAGOE ISLANDS

N Oct. 15 it was announced from Petrograd that German forces had two days previously landed on Oesel and Dagö Islands, at the northeast end of the Gulf of Riga, after bombarding the

milder than the mainland, and Arensburg, on the south shore of Oesel, is a Summer resort for the people of Riga.

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THE CAUSES OF HOLLAND'S NEUTRALITY

batteries and occupied Arensburg, the capital of Oesel. This action really put Oesel and Dagö on the map, bringing them into prominence for the first time since the twenty years' war between Charles XII. of Sweden, and Peter the Great, the maker of modern Russia. This long war, in which Peter deliberately set himself to learn Charles's strategy by being beaten by him, was closed by the Treaty of Nystad, on Sept. 10, 1721, which gave the two islands, with the contiguous mainland, to Russia. They had belonged to Sweden since 1645; for nearly a century before that date, namely, since 1559, they had belonged to Denmark.

Russia is so large, and the maps of Russia are consequently on so small a scale, that these two islands are almost invisible on a general map of the Russian Empire. But Oesel is of considerable size, about 1,000 square miles, or as large as the State of Rhode Island; Dagö is one-third as large, or 364 square miles. Their distance from Petrograd is about equal to the distance from New York to Washington. Arensburg, famous for its sea bathing, has monuments of both the Swedish and the Russian occupations, and also a large Lutheran church. It has 5,000 inhabitants, Oesel having in all about 62,000 inhabitants, while Dagö has 16,000. Both islands are flat, formed -like Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard -largely of glacial drift dotted with erratic boulders and glacial lakes; but Oesel has high chalk cliffs on the northern coast. Large areas of both islands are covered by pine forests, but considerable areas bear good crops of grain, flax, hemp, and roots. Oesel is also famous for a breed of small, very hardy horses.

The population in both islands is predominantly Esthonian, akin to the Finns, and many of the old national customs and traditions of the Esthonians, with their national dress, are preserved, untouched by Swedish or Russian influence. The climate of the islands is healthy, and

cause she has so much to fear from both sides. She refrains from hostility to Germany for three reasons: sympathy, pecuniary advantage, and the dread of a German invasion. The Court is strongly pro-German; Queen Wilhelmina, whose mother was a Princess of Waldeck, married, in 1901, Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They have one daughter, Princess Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, the heir to the crown of the Netherlands. Self-interest further holds Holland to Germany; she has made immense sums by selling food to the German army and civil population, creating a new class, nicknamed "goulash barons." She is further in dread of German invasion; it has been notorious for many months that Germany has strong forces on the Dutch frontier, ready to strike; and, while the Dutch army is mobilized, there are no strong fortresses, though Holland could defend a part of her territory by cutting the dikes and flooding a large area, leaving North and South Holland, with parts of Zeeland and Utrecht, practically impregnable. But this would mean the ruin and desolation of a great part of her territory.

Holland has equally strong reasons for not declaring war on the Entente. Her immense colonies, in both the Eastern and the Western Hemisphere, lie open to attack by the English fleet. These colonies amount to about 740,000 square miles, with a population of nearly 50,000,000 in the Dutch East Indies; with Dutch Guiana, or Surinam, in South America, in area 46,000 square miles, but very sparsely populated, having about two inhabitants to the square mile. Dutch Guiana has already been twice in English hands-during the Napoleonic wars-but most of it was restored to Holland in 1814 and 1815. There are also the islands of which Curaçao is the chief, in area 400 square miles, with a dense population of 56,000. During the Napoleonic wars, England's sea power completely dominat

ed the then immense colonial empire of Holland. British Guiana, South Africa, and the Dutch East Indies were all taken by England at that time, though the greater part of the East Indies was later restored to Holland; England, however, holding the Straits Settlements, with Singapore.

The fear of losing the still vast remnant of a much vaster colonial empire effectually prevents Holland from making common cause with Germany and declaring war against England and her allies. There is also the deep-rooted patriotism of the Netherlanders, who know that, once on Germany's side, they would practically cease to be an independent nation.

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POLAND'S NEW CONSTITUTION

BY a decree issued Sept. 15, 1917, that

part of Poland which was taken from Russia has been granted by the Emperors of Germany and Austria a new Constitution. This new Constitution is distinguished from the former by two things: 1. It gives part of Poland a full State apparatus-a Council of Regency of three Persons to fulfill the functions of a King, a Ministry, and a Council of State. 2. It gives also this new Polish Government certain legislative powers. The former Council of State was merely a consultative body.

The legislative powers of the new body can only make laws within the restricted domain assigned to it by the German and Austrian Governments, and even within this domain the Governor General has the right of veto if he protests within fourteen days. This Government is not allowed to have any voice whatever in foreign affairs. The most important State functions are kept in the hands of the German authorities.

The new Government does not have national sovereignty, as it is nominated by Germany and Austria, and it can exercise only local self-government.

inces have been killed in action while fighting for France, to wit: Generals Sibille, Dupuy, Dion, Trumelet-Faber, and Stirn. Since the beginning of hostilities German courts-martial sitting in the annexed provinces have inflicted sentences totaling five thousand years' imprisonment on citizens of Alsace and Lorraine, whose offense has been the expression of opinions favorable to France.

Since Alsace and Lorraine were annexed by Germany in 1871 until the outbreak of the war in 1914 no fewer than 500,000 of the inhabitants of the provinces, according to official figures, have migrated to France. Immediately after the declaration of war, three years ago, every one of real Alsatian or Lorraine origin who could find a way to do so made a hurried departure over the frontier line. Hundreds of those remaining, owing to their inability to leave in time, were at once seized as suspects and sent to prison or internment camps, where they have been kept in confinement for three years.

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SOUTH AMERICA IN TWO WORLD WARS

THE general alignment of the South

American nations against Germany in the present world war brings to mind that it was the last world war, a century ago, which brought these Latin republics into existence. The beginning was made when Napoleon's invasion of Spain and Portugal drove the Portuguese royal house to its great colony in Brazil, in 1807; there its members continued to reign, though as an independent empire, until Nov. 15, 1889, when Dom Pedro II. was compelled to abdicate. The second step was taken when Simon Bolivar, who had studied Spanish tyranny in Madrid, revolution in Paris, and democracy in the United States, joined the insurrection at Caracas in April, 1810. On May 25, 1810, the people of the Argentine rose against Spanish rule, declaring their independence on July 9, 1816. Chile declared its independence in September, 1810.

Paraguay followed in 1811. In the House of Commons Canning took up the cause of the new republics, declaring that he "had called a new world into existence, to redress the balance of the

old"; that "France may get Spain, but she will not get the Spanish colonies." Great Britain then formally recognized the Empire of Brazil and the republics of Mexico and Colombia. In 1832, after civil war, Colombia was divided into three independent States - Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Peru became independent in 1821, and on Dec. 2, 1823, Monroe made the celebrated declaration which completed the work of recognition begun by Canning. In 1825 Bolivia and Uruguay came into separate existence; the latter had belonged to Brazil. Thus it was the French invasion of the peninsula, with the consequent weakening of the Spanish monarchy, which gave the South American nations their chance to spring into independent life. England first recognized and supported them, as an act of hostility to Napoleon. The United States, thirteen years later, confirmed and completed that recognition.

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SWEDISH PRO-GERMANISM AND BERNA

DOTTE

THE marked German sympathies of the Swedish Court are a legitimate heritage from the founder of the present dynasty, Marshal Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's most famous warriors, who deserted him and went over to Prussia. Bernadotte had been jealous of Bonaparte from the beginning; and when the great Corsican was named First Consul, Bernadotte, the ambitious son of a Pau lawyer, became openly hostile, and took part in a plot to overthrow the dictator. This was in 1802.

After the French Nation, by an almost unanimous plébescite, had confirmed Napoleon in power, an outward reconciliation took place between the two men, and Bernadotte was given the command of considerable armies. In 1809 he was in command of a mixed force in Jutland. At that time, Gustavus IV. of Sweden, who, a few months earlier, had ceded Finland to Alexander I. of Russia, had made himself so unpopular that he was compelled to abdicate, being succeeded by the aged and childless Charles XIII. The leaders of Sweden offered the succession of the throne, with the title of Crown Prince, to

Bernadotte, who went through the form of asking Napoleon's consent.

This renewed the old quarrel between them, and when the retreat from Moscow laid Napoleon open to attack, the new Crown Prince of Sweden was found among the enemies of the French Emperor. He fought on the Prussian side against Napoleon at Dennewitz and Leipsic, and hoped to be named King of France on Napoleon's first abdication and exile to Elba. He was disappointed, but five years later, in 1818, the aged Charles XIII. died, and Bernadotte succeeded to the crown of Sweden, living until 1844, when he died at the age of eighty. He reigned under the title of Charles XIV., and King Gustav V., the present King of Sweden, is his great-grandson, the dynasty being called the House of Ponte Corvo, from the Duchy conferred upon Bernadotte by Napoleon.

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THE PROBLEM OF MODERN CHINA

EVER since the great epoch of State

Socialism in the Sung dynasty, China has been the weakest of great nations. So completely was the Middle Kingdom enfeebled by the pacifism of that Socialist period, that for the greater part of the intervening period, the Chinese have been ruled by foreign conquerors, first the Mongols and later the Manchus, with the native dynasty of the Mings between. Ever since the conquest by the Manchus, in 1644, China has been a land of contradictions, at once the most democratic and the most autocratic country in the world. The saying that "the voice of the people is the voice of God" has existed in China for 3,000 years. There is no hereditary nobility, if we except the descendants of the sage, Confucius, who are held in especial honor. All Government posts are filled, and have for many centuries been filled, by open examinations, based on a study of the national literature, and no Government official has ever had the power to pass his position on to his children. The sense of equality is, perhaps, greater and has always been greater in China than in any other land. Yet, for all their democracy of feeling, the Chinese have been governed by an absolute autocracy, the mili

tary autocracy of the conquering Manchus, whose fighting men have garrisoned all the fortified cities of China. So, while China has had an army it has been, since 1644, a foreign army; the Chinese themselves have not been trained to arms. In all probability the desire to remedy this age-long weakness, to give China a strong national army, has been one of the controlling motives which have decided China to enter the world war; for a strong national army would mean a new lease of life to the oldest and most numerous of nations, a nation which has survived from the days of the ancient Chaldeans and the Egypt of the Pharaohs.

THE

MOTHERLAND VS. DOMINIONS

THE British Government refutes the story that large numbers of trained -soldiers fit for service are kept in idleness in the United Kingdom while the troops from the Dominions are at the front. In an official statement it is explained that of every six British soldiers fighting at the front, at least five were recruited in the United Kingdom. With reference to casualties, the statistics show that the percentage has been higher among the troops from the United Kingdom than among the Dominion troops. The figures in the four series of battles on the Somme, around Arras, Ypres and at Messines Ridge are as follows: DIVISIONS ENGAGED

mountainous, that does not permit of greatly decreasing the density of the troops in consequence of the outline of the frontier and the immediate neighborhood of regions of capital importance for us, rendering it absolutely indispensable for us to be everywhere perfectly secure.

Indeed, the frontier line among the high mountains has required greater labors for the construction of roads, lodgings for the troops, fortifications, &c., and has called for a greater intensification of services than would have been needed in the plains.

Altitudes of over 10,000 feet have been reached not only by mountain artillery but also by field guns, and even by numerous siege batteries, so it will be obvious what an enormous expenditure of labor is required for the construction of roads and shelters under such conditions and for supplying the tens of thousands of quadrupeds needed, and for the transport on men's shoulders of all that is essential in order to live and fight at heights which cannot be reached even by mules.

For all this admirable effort Italy has mobilized twenty-six classes, that is to say, over 4,200,000 men, who have been almost entirely employed as fighting units to keep up the numbers required and replace losses. In the last splendid action she succeeded in breaking through the enemy's line in a section of capital strategic importance despite the Austrians' more favorable position, and thus striking a blow the vigor of which is proved by its repercussion on the entire group of enemy nations.

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FAMOUS COMMANDERS TRIED FOR TREASON

THE

HE trial and sentence of General Soukhomlinoff, who was Minister of War in Russia when the great war broke out, bears many resemblances to the trials of two famous commandersthe Englishman, Admiral Byng, and the Frenchman, Marshal Bazaine. When Frederick the Great of Prussia, turning the Pragmatic Sanction into a scrap of paper, robbed Maria Theresa of a part of her inheritance, England and France took opposite sides in the quarrel, which developed into the Seven Years' War, and thus led to the great struggle between France and England, in America and India. Admiral Byng was, in 1756, in command of the English Channel Fleet. Minorca was threatened by a French force from Toulon, and Byng was sent to drive back the French and relieve the garrison of Fort St. Philip, the chief stronghold in Minorca. He sailed, ex