sun passes such standard meridian, while the minute and second shall be the same at all times and for all places; that the hours of the day be numbered from one to twenty-four; that for special purposes, as with a view to promote exactness in chronology and to facilitate synchronous observations in science, the day and the time of the day, as determined by the prime meridian, be employed as a kind of universal time-reckoning, under the name of "Cosmopolitan Time," its hours to be denoted by distinct symbols (as by the letters of the alphabet), to distinguish them from the hours of local time. The Government of the United States recommended the calling of an international conference, to perfect some scheme of uniformity. The subject was again considered at the seventh General Conference of the In

ternational Geodetic Association, which met in Rome, Oct. 16, 1883, the United States being represented by Gen. Cutts, of the Coast Survey. A full report was made upon it by Prof. Hirsch, of the Observatory of Neufchâtel, Switzerland, and the Conference resolved that: The unification of longitudes and of hours is desirable as well in the interest of the sciences as in that of navigation, of commerce, and of international communication; the utility, scientifically and practically, of this reform fur surpasses the sacrifices in labor and changes required of a minority of civilized countries. It ought, then, to be recommended to the governments of all countries interested, to be adopted and consecrated by an international convention.

Notwithstanding the great advantages which the gen eral introduction of the decimal division of the quadrant for geographic and geodetic co-ordination, and the corresponding expressions for time, is destined to realize, scientifically and practically, reasons eminently sound appear to justify the passing by the consideration thereof in the great measure of unification proposed in the first resolution. Meanwhile, to satisfy at the same time important scientific considerations, the Conference recommends on this occasion the extension, in multiplying and perfecting the necessary tables, of the application of the decimal division of the quadrant, at least for the great numerical calculations for which it presents incontestable advantages, even if it be desired to preserve the sexagesimal division for observations, maps, navigation, etc.

This Conference proposes to the governments to choose as initial meridian that of Greenwich, defined by the middle of the pillars of the meridian instrument of the Observatory of Greenwich, because this meridian fulfills, as point of departure of longitudes, all the conditions required by science, and because, being already the most extensively used, it offers better prospects of being generally adopted. The longitude should be reckoned from the meridian of Greenwich, in the sole direction of from west to east. This Conference recognizes the utility for certain wants of science, and for the service of important lines of communication, adopting a universal hour, to be used together with the local or national time, which will necessarily continue to be used in ordinary life.

This Conference recommends, as the point of departure of the universal hour and of cosmopolitan date, the mean noon of Greenwich, which coincides with the instant of midnight or with the beginning of the civil day, under the meridian situated at 12 hours or 180° from Greenwich, the universal hours to be counted from zero to 24.

It is desirable that those countries which, in order to adhere to the unification of longitudes and of hours, have to change their meridian, should introduce the new system of longitudes as early as possi

ble in their official ephemerides and almanacs, in their geodetic, topographic, and hydrographic works, and editions of old maps, to inscribe alongside the numinto their new maps. It would be advisable, in new bers of the old meridian what it would be according to the new system. Then the new system should be introduced without delay into the schools.

The Conference hopes that, if the whole world is agreed upon the unification of longitudes and hours in accepting the Greenwich meridian as the point of departure, Great Britain will find in this fact an additional motive to take on her side new steps in favor of the unification of weights and measures, by joining the Metrical Convention of May 20, 1875. These resolutions will be made known to the governments and recommended to their favorable consideration, with an expression of the wish of this Conference that an international convention, consecrating cluded as early as possible by means of a special the unification of longitudes and hours, may be conconference.

nese.

kingdom of Anam, with which it was incorTONQUIN, the most populous province of the porated in 1802. Anam is an absolute monarchy. The total area is about 440,500 square kilometres; the total population about 21,000,000, exclusive of the tributary states of the Laos and the independent Moi tribes. The residence of the King is Hué, which has 50,000 inhabitants. Tonquin has a population of 15,000,000. The capital is Hanoi, containing 150,000 inhabitants, of whom 3,000 are ChiThe mass of the people worship tutelary gods. The majority of the educated class follow the doctrines of Confucius. The Christian religion is professed by about 420,000 persons, under six Catholic bishops. The Anamese army musters about 150,000 men. The total commerce of the port of Haiphong in 1881 amounted to 2,171,428 taels. The principal exports are silk, lac, tin, medicinal drugs, cotton, mushrooms, and anise-seed oil. The trade is chiefly in the hands of the Chinese. The French possessions in Farther India consist of the six provinces of Lower Cochin-China, ceded to France in 1862 and 1867, and containing 1,597,013 inhabitants in 1880.

Historical Review.-The political and military power of France in Farther India dates from before the Revolution. A French force landed in 1789, by the aid of which, after a ten years' war, Nguyen Anh, or Giacong, established himself upon the throne. This Emperor did not acknowledge the suzerainty of China, of which four centuries before Anam, with Cochin-China and Tonquin, had formed an integral part. His son and successor paid homage to the Emperor of China in order to escape through his protection the tutelage of the missionary priests, who were the officious vehicles of French domination. In 1825 he refused to receive a French embassy. Tonquin, which was incorporated in the new empire of Anam, but chafed under the foreign rule, welcomed the missionaries because they were obnoxious to the Emperor. This was the occasion of a long the Anamite authorities. The horrors only and cruel persecution of the missionaries by ceased upon the death of the tyrant in 1841. His successor, Thieutri, was disposed to repeat

the crimes of his father, but took warning from the successes of English arms in the opium war. In 1847 Commodore Lapierre arrived in Turon with two war-vessels, to demand the religious freedom from the Anamite monarch which the Emperor of China had recently granted by treaty. The French commander was warned during the negotiations of an intended massacre, and prepared for combat. Anamite armed craft collected in the harbor, and, when they did not depart upon Lapierre's warning, he opened fire and annihilated the whole fleet. A few months later Thieutri's son succeeded him, under the name of Tuduc. On the pretext that the Christian priests intrigued with one of the imperial princes, he ordered his officers to throw into the water every missionary who fell into their hands. In 1851 and 1852 many were executed. After the termination of the Crimean War, another French vessel of war brought a written message, which the Emperor refused to receive. The commander thereupon bombarded the port and landed troops. Yet after long procrastination the French force sailed away without obtaining any definite terms. This emboldened Tuduc to persist in his persecutions. One of the missionaries, Bishop Pellerin, at last moved Napoleon III to dispatch another expedition, which, under the command of Admiral Rigault de Genouilly, arrived at Turon in August, 1858. The French took the town by assault, and proceeded to fortify it, but by the unwholesome climate the force was soon so reduced that it could not hold the place. The troops therefore re-embarked, and in the beginning of 1859 took Saigon, in Cambodia, by storm. Admiral Rigault de Genouilly was replaced by Admiral Page. While the latter was planning operations against Turon and Hué, the former commander convinced Napoleon of the importance of Saigon and its district. The consequence was, that in the following years the French continued the conquest of Cambodia, fortified and garrisoned Saigon, and repelled the Anamites several times. On June 5, 1862, Tuduc was obliged to sign a treaty which reduced his sovereign rights, and accepted French protection. He would not have submitted to such terms if the Tonquinese had not broken out in rebellion at that time. The leader of the rebel army was Pedro Phuong, a descendant of an ancient dynastic family and a zealous Catholic. The French availed themselves of the difficulties between Anam and Tonquin to encroach upon the powers of Tuduc until, in 1874, after the campaign of 1873, in which François Garnier lost his life, they extorted from him a treaty which reduced him to vassalage. It admitted the French to three ports of Anam, with the right of maintaining a garrison, required the King of Anam to conform his foreign policy to the wishes of France, and promised him assistance in preserving order, suppressing piracy, and defending his land against foreign attacks.

Tuduc, instead of carrying out his part of the compact, embraced the ancient feudatory relation to China, which the Peking Government now hastened to reassert, in order to escape the French protectorate. The French Government made no attempt to enforce the treaty, but postponed the matter year after year, until the events in Egypt and the new impulses to external activity spurred them to action.

The absorption of Anam and Tonquin would open the gates of China under as favorable conditions as were enjoyed by English merchants in Hong-Kong and Canton. The Alpine province of Yunnan, inhabited by Chinese Mohammedans and aboriginal Mino-tses, is bound by very loose political ties to the Celestial Empire. They held out many years against the Peking Government before their rebellion was suppressed in 1872. It was this rebellion which suggested to the Indian Government, to which the rebels appealed for assistance, the possibility of reopening the great commercial route of antiquity through Burmah to the mouth of the Irrawaddy. The British home authorities, reluctant to give any encouragement to the rebel King, Suleiman, recalled the expedition of Maj. Sladen. The second expedition, in 1874, was driven back by the Chinese, after the interpreter Margary had first been murdered. The route has only recently been explored by Mr. Colquhoun. The rebellion of Suleiman first put, likewise, the Red river route into the minds of the French, and was the occasion of the last war in Tonquin. The French merchant Dupuis was commissioned by the Governor of Yunnan to explore the Red river with reference to transporting materials of war into the disturbed province. The Tonquin authorities forbade the transport of arms and ammunition, Dupuis appealed to his government to punish the Tonquinese, and gallant young French officers were eager for the adventure. With an incredibly small force they stormed citadels, routed armies of the worthless Anamese troops, and occupied the whole country, meeting with no formidable resistance until they encountered the Black Flags.

The inaccessible regions in the interior of China were the objective point of the aggressive policy in Burmah of the late British Government. The Red river has every advantage over the overland commercial route from British Burmah. It is an uninterrupted water route; the distance from the ocean is much shorter; and it passes through a country capable of a high material development.

Controversy with China. The treaty was concluded at Saigon, March 15, 1874, between France and Tuduc. The text was communicated to the Chinese Government on March 25, 1875. A protest was immediately (June 10th) returned by China, which declared that it refused to recognize the treaty. In 1880 the Marquis Tseng interrogated M. de Freycinet with reference to a rumored French expedition to Tonquin, and was assured that no

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expedition was contemplated, but that France was considering the question of upholding the treaty of Saigon. Subsequently, upon the circulation of fresh rumors, the Chinese representative addressed a letter of inquiry to the succeeding Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. St. Hillaire, asking whether the intentions of the French Government had undergone any change with regard to the kingdom of Tonquin, "whose prince has hitherto received investiture as a vassal from the Emperor of China." The reply, of the date of Sept. 27, 1880, declared the intention of France to conform to the treaty of 1874, which "guaranteed the kingdom of Anam its entire independence of all the powers," and "placed all the European interests in Anam under the protection of France." The Marquis Tseng wrote, under the date of Sept. 24, 1881, that the Peking Government does not recognize the treaty of 1874, or the right of the Prince of Anam to change by his sole act China's "unquestionable rights of suzerainty." M. Gambetta, who succeeded in the ministry, sent the reply, Jan. 1, 1882. He described Anam as an 66 pire." "I can not," he wrote, "allow you to protest against the treaty of 1874. That treaty was duly notified, and in its reply of June 10, 1875, your Government made no protest. Anam was mentioned solely as formerly a tributary of China, which is merely of historical interest." On this plea the French minister refused to agree to a protest against a treaty "the time for carrying out which has arrived," but declared that "the Government of France cherishes no designs which can harm Chinese interests." The Marquis replied on Feb. 12, 1882, after M. Gambetta had given place in the Foreign Office to M. de Freycinet, correcting the allusion to the colony of Cochin-China, and denying the construction put upon the Chinese protest of June 10, 1875, to the treaty of Saigon. The terms used by Prince Kung in that reply, he asserted, far from referring to the tributary position of Anam as merely a question of historical interest, "signify that Anam has been, and still is, a country tributary to China, whose constant acts of submission still make it a vassal state. 'If Prince Kung did not discuss the articles of the treaty,' he explains, 'it was because he refuses to recognize it; for the Chinese Government protested against the treaty of 1874 as soon as it was submitted to it.'"

In April, 1882, when rumors of the capture of Hanoi reached the Chinese embassador, he sought explanations from M. de Freycinet, who assured him that the affair was of no importance, and that what had been done was without the sanction of the French Government. This explanation was forwarded to the Peking Government, and on May 6, 1882, the Marquis Tseng informed the French minister that he had tranquillized the court at Peking. On the 31st of May he received from M. de Freycinet a dispatch correcting the interpre

tation which had been put upon his words, couched in the following terms: "I confined myself to saying that the French Government had given orders for carrying out the treaty of 1874. I added that the consequences of the influence I intended to exercise concerned only the signatories of the treaty, and that consequently we had no explanation to give to the Chinese Government." In his reply, dated June 14, 1882, the Marquis Tseng protested against this position in the following language: "If a suzerainty of centuries over Tonquin, & contiguous frontier for thousands of lis, a numerous colony settled in the country, commercial interests whose extent yields to those of no other country, and the navigation of a river which is the outlet of the southwest of China

if, I say, all these titles put together, do not give the Imperial Government a right of being interested in what happens in Tonquin, I should be glad to know what could confer such a right." This remained unanswered, and for many months there was little intercourse with the European representative of China.

Meanwhile negotiations were opened at Peking, and in November, 1882, M. Bourée, the French minister, agreed upon a scheme of arrangement which, however, was rejected by the French Government. On May 16, 1883, M. Bourée was recalled to France, and M. Tricou, embassador to Japan, was sent on a special mission to China, and entered into negotiations with the Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, who was proceeding to take command of the Chinese troops in the four southern provinces. On July 4th M. Tricou announced that any aid given by China to Anam would involve a casus belli. The Chinese Government disavowed any responsibility for the acts of Chinese subjects in Anam.

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About this time the scene of negotiations was again transferred to Europe. On Aug. 18, 1883, the Marquis Tseng declared the bases on which China was willing to treat, which were the preservation of Chinese suzerainty and the evacuation of Tonquin by France, on the one hand, and the opening of the Red river to commerce on the other. M. Challemel-Lacour, in reply, August 27th, denied the suzerainty, and declared that the affairs of Tonquin must be settled with Anam alone. new situation was now created by the French military successes, the change of rulers in Anam, and the treaty concluded at Hué, August 25th. The Chinese diplomats protested that there could be no king in Anam without investiture by the Emperor of China, and that the treaty therefore possessed no force or validity. Thence ensued a month's negotiations between the Marquis Tseng and MM. Jules Ferry and Challemel-Lacour, in which Lord Granville unofficially played the part of mediator. On September 15th propositions were submitted by the French Government, agreeing to the establishment of a neutral zone and providing for the opening of the town of Man

Hao, in Yunnan, to foreign commerce. The answer of the Chinese Government, October 15th, was to the effect that, if France was determined to disregard the suzerainty of China and the integrity of Anam, it would accept a neutral zone between the southern frontier of Tonquin and the 20th degree of latitude, and make Kuang Ho Khuang, opposite Sontay, a treaty port. By this arrangement China would acquire possession of the delta of the Songcoi and the control of the route to Yunnan, abandoning the other less valuable portions of the kingdom to be annexed to French CochinChina. The Chinese Government offered to suppress piracy, subdue the Black Flags, and keep the Songcoi river open for commerce.

M. Jules Ferry, on Nov. 22, 1883, declared that France was inclined to respect the traditional bond between Anam and China, so far as it was not incompatible with the French protectorate. He announced that it was necessary to occupy certain new positions in Tonquin. In a communication, dated November 24th, the Marquis expressed regret that the French contemplated the occupation of Hanoi, Sontay, and Bacninh, which did not accord with the declarations of former ministers, who spoke only of a protectorate. M. Ferry replied, November 30th, that the object was to secure the protectorate, and added: "The plan of our military campaign in Tonquin has not been changed, and can not be changed. The responsibility for a conflict would rest upon China."

The Black Flags.-More formidable than the Anamese army were the irregular soldiers known as the Black and the Yellow Flags. These troops were not Anamese, but Chinese, and it is not known to what extent they were augmented by volunteers from the neighboring Chinese provinces. They are survivors of the valorous Taeping rebels who held the military power of the Chinese Empire at bay for many years. In 1865 the rebels, who had retired before the Chinese troops into the province of Kwangsi, were finally driven across the border into Tonquin, and found a secure retreat in the mountains on both sides of the Red river valley. This band of exiles, numbering about 5,000, were accompanied by their wives and families. Their chief was Watsong, one of Taeping Wang's principal lieutenants, and many of them continued the freebooting practices into which the rebellion degenerated in its latter period. They offered no further hostility to the Chinese Government, but rather became the supporters and instruments of Chinese policy and influence in Anam. The Anamese troops were sent against them several times, but were invariably defeated. In 1868 they held undisputed possession of the whole right bank of the Red river above the capital. With the assistance of the Chinese Viceroy of Canton, or Governor-General of the two Kwang, they were finally expelled from the low country and confined to the upper course of the river.

Soon after Watsong died, and his followers divided into two bands. The main body of the original Taeping rebels were disposed to settle down to peaceful pursuits, and to make their submission to the Chinese and Anamese authorities. They adopted the yellow flag for their ensign, and chose for their chief Hwang Tsong In, who had been a soldier in the Chinese territorial army of Kwangsi. The smaller band, which retained the black flag, was composed of criminals and desperate characters who had joined the band of Watsong in the hope of plunder or to escape from justice, and their new leader was formerly the most famous brigand in the province of Kwangsi. The principal settlement of the Black Flags is at Laokai, on Red river; that of the Yellow Flags at Hagiang, farther in the interior and east of that place. The Anamese subsidized the Yellow Flags, partly to act as a check upon the troublesome Black Flags, and were glad to avail themselves of both in their conflicts with the French. It was through a want of precaution against the skill and courage of the Black Flags that Garnier lost his life in 1873, and through a repetition of the same blunder Rivière suffered defeat and death in 1883. Both the Black and Yellow Flags have greatly increased in number since they were expelled from Chinese territory, the former numbering in 1883 probably not fewer than 5,000 warriors, and the latter perhaps twice as many.

French Military Expedition.-Capt. Rivière, a naval officer, obtained command of, the expedition sent out for the purpose of enforcing the treaty of 1874, and embarked in October, 1881. The changes in the Foreign Office, which was directed successively by St. Hillaire, Gambetta, Freycinet, Duclere, and Challemel-Lacour, were the cause of Capt. Rivière being left with his small force in Tonquin without support or instructions, to act at his own discretion. The worthless Anamite militia offered no formidable resistance to his insignificant band of marines. He ascended to Hanoi, and took the citadel by assault, the Anamite garrison being driven out at the first onset, in May, 1882. Nothing further was done until the following spring, when the Government at home began to consider a forward movement, and the hostile natives showed signs of activity. There was no declaration of war against Anam, nor any expressed intention of effecting political changes. The declared object of the expedition was to clear the Red river of the BlackFlag pirates, and keep it open for European commerce. A desultory warfare was carried on with the natives. The Black Flags were re-enforced by Anamites and by volunteers from China, who united to harass and compel the retreat of the hated foreigners. Yet, during this time, the official assumption was that the French had to do simply with pirates, and were acting on behalf of the Emperor of Anam. After many vacillations, in May, 1883, the French Government decided to send a mili