as to say that even if the Cabinet accepted his demands he would now refuse to co-operate with it. His new demand was in effect that he should be vested with the powers of Dictator of Egypt so far as the negotiations with the British Government were concerned.

Zaghloul's persistent and increasingly virulent attacks on the Cabinet led to a hardly unexpected outbreak of violence at Alexandria and a smaller one at Cairo in May. The former one in which the mob for a time obtained control of a portion of the city was especially violent, and took a definitely antiEuropean direction. A large number of Europeans, mostly Greeks, were killed or injured, and one of the results was to give a decided set-back to the cause of Egyptian independence, for the foreign colonies had been given reason to feel doubtful whether their lives and property would be safe under an uncontrolled Egyptian Government, and there was a strong demand on their part for the continuance of British protection. Another consequence of the outbreak was to strengthen the position of the Cabinet, which gained the adhesion of several new elements. As the position of the Cabinet grew firmer it was able to take more decisive action. The principal press organ of Zaghloul was suspended, and Prince Aziz Hassan, a member of the Khedivial family, one of Zaghloul's most active and dangerous supporters, was ordered to leave the country. Aly Bey Fahmy Kamel, the leader of the Extreme Nationalists, was deported, and other notables arrested for breaches of the law. These measures had a decided effect on their colleagues who remained free. Zaghloul also was influenced to the extent that in an interview he expressed his willingness to co-operate with the Cabinet, but his influence was decidedly on the wane, as was evidenced by a propaganda tour which he conducted in the early autumn. His reception on this was in parts so mixed that the authorities had in some places to intervene in order to preserve the peace, and the tour was ultimately brought to a premature conclusion. Zaghloul was even formally disavowed by the majority of the Legislative Assembly.

Despite the protracted negotiations in London a settlement could not be reached, and Adly and his colleagues returned to Cairo at the end of the year empty-handed. The British Government held by the Milner recommendations for the most part, and it is probable that if no departure from them had been suggested, agreement would have been possible. But on two points, the military dispositions and foreign relations, the gulf separating the two parties proved impassable. The Egyptians would have accepted a British garrison on Egyptian territory confined to the Canal zone. They might even have agreed to the presence of British troops in other specified places. The British, however, demanded for the security of their nationals and other Europeans that the troops should be stationed wherever in Egypt the military authorities thought it desirable. As to the other point, both

parties agreed to the diplomatic representation of Egypt abroad, but the Egyptian delegation took exception to the title of High Commissioner for the British representative in Egypt, and to the consultation of that representative before the conclusion of political agreements with other Powers.

On the failure of the negotiations Adly Pasha and his colleagues returned to Egypt, and on his arrival there he and the other members of the Cabinet tendered their collective resignation. Several attempts to find a successor were made, but the end of the year still found Egypt devoid of a Cabinet. The failure of the negotiations, of course, gave Zaghloul his opportunity. The immediate occasion that he took was the publication of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Alexandria riots of the previous May. Against this report Zaghloul issued a protest in very forcible terms, and he followed it by a scarcely veiled appeal to the Egyptians to protest in a still more forcible manner. The immediate result (Dec. 22) was the arrest and deportation to Ceylon of Zaghloul and five of his principal supporters. This led to a further outbreak of mob violence in Cairo and one or two other towns, which was quickly suppressed.

Without the persistent unsettlement in the political situation there would have been ample cause for financial and commercial depression, and for something of the nature of an economic crisis, and it was found necessary to introduce a regime of ruthless economy into all branches of the public service. The Budget for 1920-21 showed a deficit of more than 11,000,000l., and although economies effected an improvement, the estimates for the year 1921-22 showed also a considerable deficit.

THE SOUDAN.

The Soudan being a country of minor importance, with no sensational events, did not loom large in the public eye. The more passionate politics of its closely related neighbour, Egypt, had of course their reflex further south, and the overflow of the agitation in Egypt took the form of a national propaganda in the Soudan, but this was patently artificial and led to manifestations in favour of the Government which were more noticeable than those against it. The long-standing hostility between the Soudanese and the Egyptians may have been one of the causes of the former's preference for the status quo. The agitation resulted, however, in a few slight disturbances, but there were none of a serious character. The economic depression in Egypt also had its reflex in the Soudan. Labour was so scarce that an appreciable part of the crops could not be gathered. Coupled with this was the very heavy cost of fuel, with its influence on a variety of charges, and a not very satisfactory harvest. The combination of all these elements can properly be described only as a gloomy situation. Later in the year there was an outbreak

in Southern Darfur, in the course of which two British officers and three civilian employees were killed, but it was easily suppressed with severe loss to the insurgents. The leader, Abdullahi-es-Soghayer, was captured and afterwards hanged.

CHAPTER IX.

AMERICA: THE UNITED STATES-CANADA-ARGENTINA-BRAZIL AMERICA-COLOMBIA-MEXICO-OTHER

-CHILE-CENTRAL

REPUBLICS.

THE UNITED STATES.

THE year 1921 opened with the Republicans still dazed by their amazing victory the previous November when they elected as President, Senator Warren Gamaliel Harding, of Ohio, by the utterly unprecedented majority of nearly 7,000,000 votes over Governor Cox, the Democratic candidate. In the House of Representatives they found themselves with a clear majority of 150 votes, while in the Senate they had a majority of 22. They could look forward, almost certainly, to four years of uninterrupted control. To the Republicans, with their determination to re-establish high protection and their disrelish for governmental interference with business, the vista was pleasant indeed.

In the White House, President Wilson, a sick man, watched the sands of his administration run quickly through the glass. In the months of January and February, the President contented himself with vetoing the "Emergency Tariff Act" passed by the jubilant Republicans, refusing to pardon Eugene V. Debs and 145 other "political" prisoners, and expelling H.A. K. Martens, the Bolshevik envoy, from the country. He passed on to the new administration for solution a controversy with Great Britain over oil rights in Mesopotamia, a dispute with Japan over the island of Yap, the settlement of peace terms with Germany and Austria, de facto occupation of Haiti and Santo Domingo by American marines, much friction with Panama, Columbia, and Nicaragua, an agitation for independence in the Philippines, and the question of the recognition of Mexico.

In addition the new administration was shortly to be confronted with three domestic issues which were to absorb between them nearly all the President's time and attention. One was the severe industrial slump, indicated in January by the announcement of the United States Department of Labour that there were 3,473,466 unemployed in the country, a figure which by August had crept up to 5,735,000.

A second problem, new to the national consciousness, was the bankruptcy of agriculture. On January 1, for the first time in the history of the United States, the urban population overtook the rural population, with the cities growing seven and a

half times as fast as the rural districts. The converse of thisthe desertion of the farms-was to be traced to the economic plight of the farmers who were carrying, it was estimated, a dead loss of 6,000,000,000 dollars on the 1920 crop, due to the fact that the crop had been gathered on the highest wages known since the Civil War, and yet had to be sold at prices lower than any known since 1914. Professor Ashby Hobbs declared in the New York Times that the average farmer during 1920 had cleared above his working expenses, to be consumed by himself and his family, bare wages amounting to 9:61 dollars per week. In the single agricultural State of Ohio alone 60,000 men and boys deserted the farms. All this led to the emergence in Congress of the Agricultural bloc, a group of senators and representatives, of both parties, from the agricultural States, who displayed a determination to force from the administration "some consideration for the agricultural interests of the country.” In the speeches of Senators Capper, of Kansas, Kenyon, of Iowa, and La Follette, of Wisconsin, throughout the year the views of this significant group may be traced.

The third domestic legacy left to the new President was the growing movement throughout the country for disarmament. It is perfectly clear from his public addresses prior to his inauguration in March that Mr. Harding had no notion of adopting even partial disarmament as an administration policy. While he took some trouble during his campaign to dissociate himself from the unpopular movement for universal military training and peacetime conscription, the senator made it clear that he believed in a Navy "second to none." In this he was entirely in harmony with his party which, ever since Mr. Roosevelt's days, had advocated a strong Navy to protect American investments abroad.

But as early as January signs began to multiply that the American people, although steadfastly opposed to the Wilsonian League of Nations, were thoroughly dissatisfied with the huge naval and military burdens which they were carrying. Major General Pershing was among the first to suggest that some disarmament was in order; General Tasker H. Bliss, another prominent soldier, said much to the same effect. Then Senator Borah, of Idaho, an independent Republican, introduced a resolution calling for a Conference between Great Britain, Japan, and the United States looking toward a naval holiday. In obedience to this rising sentiment Congress cut the American Army from 288,000 down to 175,000 men.

But Mr. Harding in his inaugural address in March gave only the vaguest signs that he recognised the force of public opinion on this question. "I would rejoice," said the President, "to acclaim the era of the Golden Rule and crown it with the autocracy of service," whatever that may mean! But he made no concrete recommendations. He pronounced himself opposed to the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations, although in favour of an undefined "association of nations." However, he

did recommend that the war with the Central Powers be officially terminated by act of Congress. Such a resolution, after some controversy between the two Houses, was adopted by the lower House on June 30, by the Senate on July 1, and was signed by the President on July 2. Peace Treaties were then drawn up and presented to Germany and Austria. The Austrian Treaty was signed on August 24 and the German Treaty on the day. following.

In March the disarmament sentiment was distinctly fanned by a statement made in Parliament by Lord Lee, First Lord of the Admiralty, that "if America invites Great Britain to come. to an agreement on the naval question," he would put aside all other business and help the movement along. In May the new Secretary of State, Mr. Charles Evans Hughes, decided that the United States should re-enter the Supreme Council of the Allies at Paris in order to safeguard American interests. He likewise decided to send an "Official Observer "-in the person of Mr. George Harvey, the new American Ambassador in London-to the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris. Thirdly he took steps to be represented "unofficially" on the Reparations Commission.

These reminders that America was still hopelessly involved in the European debacle spurred the disarmament forces to greater activity. A three-days' Conference was held in Chicago, May 17-19, attended by official representatives of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the National Catholic Welfare Council, and the Central Conference of American Synagogues to plan concerted action. With the churches, the powerful women's organisations, and even the business men clamouring for action, the President had no difficulty, presently, in noting the public feeling on the question. Defeated at his first attempt, Senator Borah pressed for a rider to the Naval Appropriation Bill authorising the President to call a Conference for a naval holiday at first the administration resisted the suggestion, but finally and suddenly withdrew its opposition; the rider was adopted, and in July the President issued to Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan an invitation to take part in a Conference, to be held in Washington on November 11, on "the subject of limitations of armaments, in connexion with which Pacific and Far Eastern problems will also be discussed." For the latter discussion, China, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal were invited.

In the meantime the administration struggled with other problems. All suggestions from Europe that the debts of the Allies should be mutually cancelled excited great opposition, although there was growing recognition that the country needed a solvent Europe in order to recover from its own increasing slump. But Europe was held in popular suspicion. An "American Commission on Ireland," an unofficial body sponsored by a New York weekly magazine, held prolonged hearings