It seems almost too good to be true that the terrors of Siberian exile
are to be abolished. To most of the unfortunate prisoners who were
interviewed by Mr. George Kennan when he visited the Siberian convict
settlements, even the horrors of the exile were as nothing compared to
the awful journey on foot across the desolate steppes of Russia.

All this will soon be at an end, and the nearness of the prisons to
civilization will perhaps remove some of the abuses and ill-treatment of
the prisoners now practised in the far-away Siberian prisons.

If the young Czar Nicholas continues his kindly and humane methods of
government it is likely that he will soon need very few political
prisons.

He has shown much kindness and clemency to his people since he came to
the throne, and there is little doubt that his subjects will soon learn
to love him and trust him in return.

* * * * *

The relations between the Transvaal and England are again being brought
prominently before the world.

Early in the spring, when it was rumored that Germany was taking too
friendly an interest in the affairs of the Transvaal, Mr. Chamberlain,
the Colonial Secretary of England, sent a very stormy letter to the
Boers, saying that England insisted that the Transvaal should not make
any foreign alliances without her consent, and that the treaty between
the Transvaal and Great Britain, which is known as the "London Treaty,"
must be very closely observed.