which is calculated to enable them to be more mutually helpful. The problem has few precedents.

Austria's large concession to Hungary in 1867 points out the road. Hungary was recognised as almost independent. The result has been to stimulate Hungarian affection for the Crown, and to enable the realm enormously to aggrandise its influence in the East. Do not let British Federation begin on a niggling scale. There seems no reason why Ireland and Scotland should not be as nearly independent as it is possible for united States to be. Only a childish worship of geography, however, would dictate that Ulster should be counted with Ireland rather than with Scotland. Industrial and agricultural regions might well be separated with advantage. Thus Ayr, Galloway, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Dumfries, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, might very well form a unit ("Strathclyde" or "The Borders") of northern agriculture, apart from Scotland and industrial England. Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham and Newcastle, would group the industrial region (perhaps with Stafford). The Midlands, East Anglia, Wales, London, the West, the South Coast, would furnish other natural divisions. Except in the case of Wales, they could probably not have a measure of sovereignty comparable with that of Scotland and Ireland-for the simple reason that it would not to be felt to be natural. They have no traditions of united action. To get that, one must go in search of smaller units and invoke the counties.

It is beyond the limits of this paper to attempt a sketch of a complete Federal system, with its organisation of legislatures and executives. It is desired only to draw attention to three desiderata :

1. The elimination of the forensic element :

2. The avoidance of elaborate paper provisions:
3.-Correspondence with general desire and under-
standing.

And a word may be added on the difference between a Federal State and a Confederation. In a Confederation no unit parts with an iota of its sovereignty. The Union all lies in contract. Each unit may break its promises, though it will be wrong of it to do so. In a Federal Union it cannot break its promises: it has resigned the power to do so. This is not a futile distinction without a difference. In the Federal State the individual who transgresses the Federal compact is not assisting in a national breach of faith towards an equal, but is acting as a criminal towards a superior.

Federation, moreover, may be constitutional or international. In the former case it is a domestic arrangement which is indifferent to foreign nations. The powers of the units may be swept away, and the world remains unmoved, and, indeed, is conscious of no change. Revolution in the United States might abolish State rights to-morrow, and Europe, which knows only the United States, would scarcely be interested. Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, are constitutionally organised on a Federal basis, and not one in ten thousand Europeans knows or cares. But an International Federation leaves the units subsisting, though with truncated powers, as States. Their rights remain matter of universal concern. There is a temptation to confuse this state of things with a mere Confederation, based on compacts of alliance. Such a confusion rests on an inability to discriminate between conveyance and contract.

TH. BATY.

VI. THE RUSSIAN PASSPORT SYSTEM: RELIGIOUS DISABILITIES OF FOREIGNERS.

I

N most European countries it is not absolutely necessary for a foreigner to be provided with a passport, but the possession of such a document is often desirable as a proof

of the identity of its holder. Russia, however, cannot be entered by a foreigner without a passport, and, in addition, the passport must bear the visa of the Russian ConsulGeneral or a Russian consul duly authorised to act in the country to which the traveller belongs. This last regulation, according to the regulations very carefully prepared by the British Foreign Office, is enforced in no other European country with the exception of Roumania and Turkey, though other countries not in the forefront of civilisation, such as Persia, Columbia, Venezuela and Hayti, also insist upon it.

Not only is the requirement of the consular visa insisted upon by Russia, but before it can be obtained, the holder of the passport is required to state the religious denomination to which he belongs-a requirement enforced in no country, however backward in progress, with the single exception of Russia. The object of this provision is to enable the consul to refuse to attach his visa to the passport of any one whose religious views do not find favour with his Government. This refusal is usual in the case of persons professing the Jewish religion. The result is that Jews, except under special circumstances and as a matter of special favour, are prohibited from entering or travelling in the Russian Empire.

It may be conceded that, by the strict law of nations, any State has the right to prevent any person or class of persons entering its territory, and is not bound to give any reason for such exclusion. Still, at the present time, the unreasonable exercise of this right by a State claiming to be civilised ought to be visited with censure, and a country persisting in abusing it ought no longer to be considered a member of the brotherhood of nations. Moreover, however wide the right of exclusion may in theory be, it is in practice greatly curtailed by the treaties of commerce and navigation which all the great States have contracted with each other.

Russia has herself made such treaties with all the important nations of the world, and by these treaties has bound herself to give free admission to the subjects of foreign powers to her dominions. These treaties are not in identical terms, but their effect is substantially the same. Let us take as an example the treaty with Great Britain, which was made after the conclusion of the Crimean War, and signed at St. Petersburgh on the 12th day of January, 1859. The relevant clauses are Articles I and XI, and they are as follows :—

"Art. I.-There shall be between all the dominions and possessions of the two High Contracting Parties, reciprocal freedom of commerce and navigation. The subjects of each of the two Contracting Parties respectively shall have liberty freely and securely to come with their ships and cargoes to all places, ports and rivers in the dominions and possessions of the other, to which other foreigners are or may be permitted to come; and shall, throughout the whole extent of the dominions and possessions of the other, enjoy the same rights, privileges, liberties, favours, immunities and exemptions in matters of commerce and navigation, which are or may be enjoyed by native subjects generally.

"It is understood, however, that the preceding stipulations in no wise affect the laws, decrees and special regulations regarding commerce, industry and police, in force in each of the two countries, and generally applicable to all foreigners."

"Art. XI.-The subjects of either of the two High Contracting Parties, conforming themselves to the laws of the country, shall have:

"1. Full liberty with their families to enter, travel or reside in any part of the dominions and possessions of the other contracting party.

"2. They shall be permitted in the towns and ports to hire or possess the houses, warehouses, shops and premises which may be necessary for them.

"3. They may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ.

4. They shall not be subject in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of passports, licences for residence or establishment, nor in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, nor to imposts or obligations of any kind whatever, other or greater than those which are or may be imposed upon native subjects."

In the face of these stipulations, embodied in a solemn treaty, it is difficult to see how the Russian authorities can justify their refusal to allow the Jewish subjects of the other contracting Powers to enter their territories.

Russia, it is well known, has a code of laws, similar to those which existed in the Middle Ages in many other European countries, imposing the severest disabilities upon her Jewish subjects. Jews, unless they are possessed of special privileges, are forbidden to reside in any part of the empire, except within the Pale of Jewish Settlement, a comparatively small district comprised in fifteen provinces in Poland and the South and West of Russia in Europe; and even within the Pale, they are confined to certain towns and villages and forbidden to live elsewhere. Their right to own or hold land is strictly limited, and they suffer many political, official, military, and educational disabilities. However antiquated, however unjust and oppressive these laws are, Russia has the right to enforce them against such of her own subjects as profess a religion which is obnoxious to the views of the majority of her population, but she has no right to extend them to the