greater must the effect be after the long theatrical preparation which the Sultan makes his visitors pass through before they reach the presence.

The writer we have quoted from thus sums up the character of the Sultan:

"He is audacious and a coward, a dreamer and a man of business, a miser and a prodigal, a loving father and a sanguinary monster. In one day he condemned a nation to be slaughtered, signed a decree about decorating some ladies, and speculated in stocks, all with the same peaceful and contented manner."

There is a report in South Africa that Dr. Jameson, the leader of the Transvaal Kid, will run for a seat in the Cape Town Assembly at the next election, and that the chances are that he will be elected by a large majority.

The Boers are likely to have more trouble with such a firebrand as that helping to direct the affairs of a neighboring state.

At the same time the news comes that Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the man who is accused of having planned the raid, is seriously ill in his home in Cape Town, and not expected to live.

The Government of Siam has looked into the matter of the assault on Vice-Consul Kellet, and has decided to express regret to our Government that the trouble occurred.

We told you about this affair last spring. Vice-Consul Kellet went into the interior of Siam to settle the estate of Mr. Cheek, an American who had died in Siam, and who had left directions that Mr. Kellet was to arrange his affairs for him.

While in the performance of this duty, Mr. Kellet was attacked and beaten by Siamese soldiers.

One of our gunboats, the Raleigh, was sent out to Bangkok to investigate the matter, and to protect the interests of our citizens there.

At the time the trouble occurred, the then Secretary of State, Mr. Olney, thought that perhaps Mr. Kellet had been over-hasty, and the soldiers were not to blame.

The message from Bangkok which now reaches us shows that Mr. Olney was wrong.

The Siamese Government has decided that the soldiers were in the wrong, and a lieutenant and four privates who took part in the affair have been severely reprimanded, and suspended from their regiments without pay for several months.

The Siamese Government has offered to make the fullest amends for the outrage, and Consul-General Barret, in his despatches, says that Mr. Kellet's conduct throughout was all that could be desired.

The commission sent up to inquire into the matter declared that the viceroy of the district should have been able to check the ill-feeling of the soldiers, and he, too, has been reprimanded.

The story of the affair, as it now reaches us, is that Mr. Kellet's servant was arrested by the native troops who act as police in the town of Chang Mai, where the Vice-Consul had gone to look into the Cheek claim. Mr. Kellet's interference on behalf of his servant enraged the soldiers, who set upon him and beat him severely.

The Siamese Government has taken such a determined stand, and has offered such complete apologies for the offence, that there is now no ill-feeling about the matter, and the relations that exist between the two countries are more friendly than ever.

The king of Siam, Chulalongkorn, who has been travelling through Europe since the jubilee celebrations, and of whose visit to Italy we told you in a former number, has made many friends for himself and his country by his intelligence and his charming manners.

This king has manifested a close interest in the progress of civilization throughout his travels, and his country will certainly benefit from his broadened views when he returns home. His two sons are being educated at Harrow, which is one of the great English public schools, and the rival of the famous Eton, of which you must have heard. Public school in England does not mean free school for the benefit of the public, as it does with us, but a high-class school where the