But it will be easily seen that the successful candidate will not seek re-election with a light heart unless he is able to show that he has made some effort to redeem his pledges. And the effect of a contest which was closely watched by working men all over Scotland will not be confined to Mid-Lanark. Strong as is their loyalty to Mr. Gladstone, workmen north of the Tweed will not be slow to grasp the full meaning of this example of the power which the use of the vote puts into their hands. Other candidates will also learn the lesson and accept the inevitable with good grace. Inured by habit to the process, they will find salvation' on labour questions when thus pressed home to them, even more rapidly than they have done in regard to Home Rule. As evidence of this it may be mentioned that the representative of the Labour Party who at Southampton pointed out to the Liberal Committee the singular absence of definite pledges on Labour questions from the Liberal election address, found that there was no doubt in the minds of the gentlemen who were working the election that Mr. Evans, who is now member for the town, was 'strongly in favour of the reduction of hours of labour on all monopolies and of the organisation of unemployed labour in time of distress.' 3

These examples show how readily the topics which interest all who sympathise with the unhappy lot of our labouring population can be forced into maturity for legislative action. I do not pretend to be able to foretell the future. I leave that to political meteorologists who know how largely the electorate is composed of working men; how evenly parties are now balanced in scores of constituencies; how deeply the poor, below the surface excitement of mere party politics, feel the necessity for social reforms; and how soon success engenders imitation. My own estimate of the probable results of this action is based, I freely admit, on data at present incomplete, but I shall be surprised and disappointed if it is not found at the next general election that about one hundred of the

2 This forecast has been fulfilled since it was written. In the Ayr Burghs the Liberal candidate, Mr. Sinclair, after a little hesitation, agreed to support an Eight Hour Bill, Manhood Suffrage, an Arbitration Court for Miners, with power to fix a minimum wage and other points. The deputation, headed by Mr. Keir Hardie, which obtained these pledges represented more than twice the number of votes necessary to turn the election, though the working-class element in the constituency is very small. Many Conservative workmen recorded their votes for Mr. Sinclair in consequence solely of his attitude on the Labour Question.

3 I am informed (June 21) that Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen, the Liberal candidate at the pending bye-election in the Isle of Thanet, has told our delegate that he is in favour of a compulsory reduction of hours of labour to eight a day for miners and in other trades where the necessity for such a measure is shown; of the organisation of the unemployed on public works in times of distress; of the payment of members of Parliament and of election expenses from public funds; of the limitation of the hours of work in shops; and other minor points.

contests have turned solely on matters of vital interest to labour. This, if it should prove to be so, should be a source of unalloyed gratification to both the old political parties, whose members, if we are to believe their invariable protestations on such occasions, are quite convinced that they, and not their opponents, are the real friends of the working classes.

H. H. CHAMPION.

LIBERATING THE SLAVES IN BRAZIL.

A RAPID survey of the remarkable way in which slavery is vanishing in Brazil cannot fail to be of interest, and especially so in connection with the chief events of the past two years.

On the 28th of September, 1885, a law was passed which1. Conceded freedom to all slaves over sixty years of age;

2. Obliged a truthful registry of all slaves, with their names, ages, and places of birth;

3. Marked a scale of redemption prices as follows, so that at the end of twelve or thirteen years all slaves would be of such little money value that without further legislative interference slavery would cease to exist:

Female slaves were considered as one quarter less in value.

Such in general terms was the law.

The first clause caused a good deal of discussion, not because the slave-owners wished the sexagenarians to struggle on in captivity until the very end, but owing to a little complication caused by over-sharpness on the part of the owners when registering their slaves after the passing of the Rio Branco law, on the 28th of September, 1871, which granted freedom of birth.

Although in 1830 the importation of slaves was declared illegal, the traffic went on until 1854, when the Government took stronger measures to stop it.

Now, when the masters in 1871 had to declare the nationality, birthplace, and age of their slaves, they could not acknowledge to being owners of Africans imported since 1830, who would ipso facto be declared free; so, to evade the loss of these late-imported ones, one and all were registered as over forty-one years of age. When the last law, therefore, granted freedom to all over sixty years, thousands of slaves under fifty became free, having been imported between 1830 and 1854, but who were registered of such an age in

1871 that in 1885 they were officially declared as over sixty years old.

The two other clauses of the 1885 law need not be considered, for subsequent events have already nullified them.

Immediately after the promulgation of the last law, the doors of liberty were thrown open to those who, actually or by the registry of 1871, were over sixty years of age. This must be considered as an important step, inasmuch as it was the first in the direction of having emancipated slaves as paid labourers in the plantations, working still in the slave-gangs. Needless to say, the law as a whole received very different receptions from various parts of the community.

1. The opulent, as a rule, accepted it as a necessary measure to wipe away gradually what is now considered a stain on the national character, and an evil influence on morals.

2. Those in high places, who could look on dispassionately, thought it weak and insufficient.

3. The Abolitionists condemned it out and out, and forthwith redoubled their efforts to gain their ends.

4. Those of the ancient school of hard task-masters, those not particularly well off, those whose living came by the hiring out of slaves, and the despised class of slave-dealers (negociantes de carne humana) naturally breathed every anathema against the legislators.

Thus out of four sections of appreciators as to the value of the law, the first three showed more or less strongly that they advocated an end of slavery. The fourth class declared that it never would or could agree under any circumstances.

As a link in the late events of emancipation must be mentioned a tour of one month made by the Emperor and Empress of Brazil through the province of São Paulo, at the end of the year 1885. As is his custom, the Emperor examined everything, including the prisons. These he found in some cases being used to detain runaway slaves until their masters should fetch them. Although his Majesty is reticent as to his opinions, he more than once gave it to be understood that prisons were intended for malefactors and not for runaway slaves. This is a small matter apparently; still, coming from him, it was one of great importance, and it was another step in the ladder by which slaves were to rise to freedom.

The Emperor's remarks and his well-known longing for the end of all slavery have had much influence in these last days' development of emancipation in the province of São Paulo.

To fully appreciate the influence of these remarks, it must be borne in mind that the Emperor is greatly beloved by all: by the slaves, who look on him as their champion, and by masters, who know that the peace and quiet of the country are chiefly due to him.

From the time of this tour of their Imperial Majesties, then, things

have rolled on rapidly. Two months afterwards, in the beginning of the year 1886, a newspaper called A Redempção appeared in São Paulo. Rarely has such an audacious publication been produced: its language is that of the masses, so that they can read it with ease and pleasure; its editors have enough wit to catch the popular ear and sufficient judgment to choose the salient features of passing events. The paper was declared ultra-abolitionist and the slaves' especial friend. At first its reckless and bitter attacks on individuals, mentioning their names, raised the opinion that it would come to a speedy end; not so-it lived on, in the shade certainly, the other journals continually ridiculing and condemning it, and deriding its style as inferior. Its chief editors were marked to be the recipients of sound thrashings, if nothing more, and every influence was brought to bear on its annihilation-all to no purpose though.

Early in 1887 occurred a crime so hideous that the public anger was fairly roused. A planter tortured a negro slave named Benjamin within an inch of his life, which most certainly would have been lost but for the interference of the abolitionists. All the newspapers clamoured against this atrocity, and the Redempção thrashed the event to pieces, published all the details and redoubled its attacks. on slavery. This case is of prime importance, inasmuch as it marks a commencement of increased activity among the abolitionists. During all this time A Redempção grew and grew; it published a translation of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and eventually emerged from the shade to be more eagerly read than any paper in the province. It influenced the thoughts of the slaves by advising them to run away to the seaport of Santos, a stronghold of the abolitionists where slavery is abolished by the voice of the people; it pointed out the roads to be passed with caution, owing to police being stationed there; it held up to ridicule every man who attempted to recapture a slave; the house of the chief editor in São Paulo was a 'city of refuge' whence the fugitives were to be directed; above all it condemned all acts of plunder, its editors well knowing that the silent abandonment of the plantations would bring the end sooner than constant struggling with the police authorities.

If we add to all this the peaceable disposition of the Brazilians, it can be imagined how soon the slaves would catch at the chance of freedom. Society also was thoroughly saturated with thoughts of abolition. In many cases the same house harboured ultra-abolitionists among its youthful members, while the older ones hung on to the old régime of exacting all that was possible from the slave. They said- Are they not mine? Did I not buy them with my money? Why should I pay them?' Verily, a house so thoroughly divided against itself, how could it stand? The pressure, although enormous, was as yet insufficient to overthrow it, because withal many planters had sympathetic feelings with emancipation; they saw that unless a