France and

her new
Colony.

THE French Republic is seriously occupied with the task of ruling the great African island, which last year she conquered. What Madagascar should be-a protectorate or a colony?—was the first question to be settled; and, mainly in the hope of escaping from difficulties with other powers, the Government decided to make the new acquisition a colony. That, however, was a simpler matter than devising plans for the pacification and development of the island. Marauding bands of forest and coast tribes, with an admixture of runaway slaves, disbanded Hova soldiers, and general riff-raff, have proved a formidable obstacle to progress. Isolated French officials and travellers, rashly trusting to their prestige, have been ill-used and murdered; the main routes to the capital are beset with armed mobs, which retire before any strong body of troops, but reappear as soon as those troops have passed by, again block the road, and become a standing menace to the entire countryside; while several districts are in a state of utter anarchy-villages burnt, cattle looted, women and children carried into slavery, and Europeans in constant danger. In some instances it has been necessary to abandon country mission stations for the present, and from the northern province of Antsihanaka the entire mission staff has had to withdraw. To remedy this deplorable state of things will be far from easy. Time and patience will be needed, and not until a disciplined and trustworthy native force has been raised, the hands of the Hova administration strengthened, and a stable civil government in which the people have confidence established, will the trouble come to an end. But France is grappling bravely with the difficulties of the situation, and will eventually succeed.

In the meantime, M. Laroche, the Resident General, is bitterly assailed by the Romanist party, ostensibly on the ground of his Anglophile tendencies, in reality because he is faithfully carrying out his instructions and carefully preserving freedom of conscience. His official declaration at a great kabary, or national assembly, held in the capital on 7th May last, left nothing to be desired as regards completeness and lucidity. Liberty of worship is to be the right of every Malagasy. The Government accords full liberty to all to send their children to either Protestant or Catholic schools, and to attend what place of worship they prefer, and plainly announces its absolute neutrality on this point. With the exception of one or two minor officials, the French administrators generally have acted in loyal accord with this policy, and Protestant missionaries have had little cause of complaint. In the larger centres of work all the ordinary missionary operations are regularly carried on. M. Kruger has now left Madagascar, but M. Lauga remains until a permanent substitute can be secured to take his place. The mission of these French Protestant brethren has been most helpful.

American Missionaries in Turkey.

THE missionaries of the American Board in Asia Minor are nobly bearing the strain of a most trying and terrible experience. They are standing by their persecuted, harassed, and destitute people with heroic courage and self-sacrifice. From the official organ of the Board it is evident that much of the missionaries' present duty consists in relieving the universal distress of their flocks. But the sights they have witnessed, the horrors they have known, the piteous stories they have listened to, have severely taxed heart and brain, while the efforts to meet the distress have made hardly less demand upon physical strength and endurance. "How long, O, Lord, how long?" is the cry that forces itself to the lips. Still, the darkest cloud often has its silver lining, and from nearly every mission-station comes the welcome news that the old spirit of opposition on the part of the Gregorian, or Roman Catholic Armenians, to their Protestant neighbours is breaking down under the stress of this awful dispensation of outrage and suffering, and that in the place of this a feeling of cordiality towards evangelical Christians is growing. The old churches are being opened to the Protestants, and the message of the gospel is joyfully listened to. Indeed, the work is extending and helpers are needed to carry it on, especially as several of the missionaries are showing signs of serious breakdown in health. Among the striking incidents reported from the region is one of an aged Christian woman, 110 years of age, whose son was nearly ready to give up in despair in view of the terrible experiences through which they were passing. But the mother told the ruffians who were assaulting them that she was too old to change her faith. "I know only Christ," she said, and they took the dear old lady's Bible and tore it up and burned it before her eyes. "But, thank God!" says the missionary who records th incident, "they could not tear the Word out of her heart."

Progress in

China.

THE editor of the Chinese Recorder, an able monthly published at the American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai, and intended for experts in missionary matters in the Celestial Empire, in a recent issue makes the following remarkable announcement: "In the 'Mission Handbook' just issued from the Mission Press, Shanghai, we note the total number of communicants in the various Protestant churches, in 1893, was something over 55,000. Making due allowance for losses by deaths and defections, we suppose it would be reasonable to count an average net gain of over 5000 per annum. This would bring the present membership of the churches in 1896 to some 70,000. But the ratio of increase is a continually increasing one, so that we may be safe in inferring that the number is even considerably larger than this. And when the amount of preparatory and foundation work

which has been gone through is remembered-the books and tracts prepared, text-books and educational works, medical and scientific works, schools and colleges founded -there is certainly much cause for encouragement and call for thanksgiving." The editor here simply expresses what is the confident belief of the men most familiar with the work now being carried on. These tell us that there is every reason to expect yet larger ingatherings of converts. Slowly but surely "the doctrine" is penetrating Chinese minds, and is meeting the needs of Chinese hearts, and God seems to be about to draw many unto Himself.

read the Bible.

hands of a deputation a handsomely-bound copy of the Chinese Scriptures. The Bible given him was similar in character to that presented some time before to the Dowager Empress, the binding only being a little less elaborate. His Excellency accepted the book with apparent pleasure, referred most courteously to the donors, and promised to read the volume during his voyage. Doubtless this Grand Old Man of China will return from his round of visits to European cities loaded with presents of other kinds, but we would fondly hope that this gift may be most prized of all.

Mendicant

singing Christian Hymns.

A CALCUTTA evangelist connected with the A Vishnuvite London Mission recently met with a remarkable illustration of the unexpected This ways in which God often works. evangelist, Dutt by name, was itinerating in a country district of which he has charge, when he saw a Vishnuvite mendicant coming towards him. These men are generally musicians, who visit shops and private houses, and, to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument, sing lyrics in praise of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The people listen with evident pleasure to their effusions, and reward the performers with gifts of small coins. To the evangelist's intense surprise, as this heathen beggar came near enough for him to catch his words, he found that he was singing, not verses in praise of the virtues of Vishnu, but a Christian hymn. Naturally, Mr. Dutt asked for an explanation of this unusual conduct, and in reply was told by the mendicant that some time previously he had purchased from a colporteur a little book containing Christian hymns, which he liked so much that he had committed them all to memory, and now in his rounds sings these instead of the Vishnuvite lyrics. More than this, he added that the people preferred them. He said, too, that before he had bought the hymn-book, he had received a Bengali tract called "The Mine of Salvation." This he had read to a large number of friends, many of whom had been so pleased with it that they had been at the trouble of copying the whole of it, although the tract contained twenty-four pages of print. Finally, some one thought it so valuable that he purloined the tract, to the mendicant's great grief. Thus, says the Rev. W. R.

Le Quesne, who relates the story, is the Spirit of the Lord working through unthought-of agencies to commend the Word of Truth to the people of India.

New York Reforms.

In the early months of 1896, New York obtained two more advantages from the popular uprising against Tammany Hall, which took place at the November elections in 1894. Its public schools were taken out of the control of the ward politicians, and the civil service of the State of New York was taken for all time out of the hands of the political spoilsmen. The schools of New York City have now been cut away entirely from the old order of things, under which the ward trustees, who were usually politicians, were all-powerful, and have been placed under a new system under which both teachers and scholars have infinitely better opportunities than were possible when Tammany Hall was supreme. The change brought about by the appointment of an engineer, instead of a Tammany politician, as superintendent of streetcleaning has also resulted in permanent good. For cleanliness and order, New York streets now compare with those of any European capital, and the city, for the first time for thirty years, is getting full value for every dollar it spends on the streets. Formerly the workpeople of this department were the poorer hangers-on of Tammany Hall. They were all appointed by Tammany, and voted, as a matter of course, with Tammany Hall in the municipal and State elections. Their political subserviency to Tammany kept them in their places no matter how much they shirked their work. When, at the beginning of 1895, the politician gave place to the engineer, the shirkers were weeded out, and the streetcleaners were at the same time called upon to wear a distinctive uniform. By means of the uniform, which is white, they were brought constantly under the public eye, and shirking work ceased to be any longer possible. At first the uniform was denounced by the Tammany press as an outrage upon American citizenship, but Colonel Waring, the new chief of the department, persisted in its being worn, and opposition to it soon died away. The men themselves are now rather proud of it than otherwise, and when they donned the white duck uniform for the summer they marched down Broadway, headed by a band, and were reviewed by the mayor. About the same time also almost the entire police force of the city paraded on Broadway, and were accorded reception which seemed to show that under the new commissioners the people of New York are their confidence in the force.

regaining

baby's face, and that young person, perceiving two strange and inquisitive eyes peering at him, burst into a loud roar, accompanied by movements suggestive of a lusty desire to kick.

"Oh! God bless him! Take him where he's wanted!" cried his alarmed inspector. "Here, Chris! Sweeties!" and the inexperienced man thrust a silver coin into the fat, little red hand, nodded laughingly to the baby's bearer, and hurried off up the street.

It was but a few steps farther to Sarah Ann's home. She held the sobbing child tightly to her breast, and comforted him with crooning noises.