te and independent existence among the South American
Republics. What is taking place would seem to be a simple phenomenon of
suggestion, induced by the example of Panama. The fate of the vague
territory known as Counany had been settled, as every one supposed, by
the arbitral sentence of the Swiss Tribunal by which this region, with
which France and Brazil had played diplomatic battledore and
shuttlecock for more than 175 years, was finally handed over to the
latter Power.

"Brazil has never, it appears, taken effective possession of Counany,
and the population, whose flag, if ethnographic differences were to be
symbolized in it, ought to be a sort of Joseph's coat of many colours,
are now apparently once more appealing to the civilized world to aid
them to secure a separate existence. What recently occurred on the
Isthmus of Panama, when a new State sprang full fledged into being,
would seem to have been an object lesson acting automatically on the
nerves of these Indians, whites, negroes, and half-castes, welding them
into a compact whole and giving them a self-consciousness craving
European sanction. Hypnotized by Panama, and, it may be, counting upon
the eventual support of one of the Continental Powers which has already
shown the world that Brazilian affairs are not beyond the range of its
diplomatic vigilance, Counany steps once more to the fore.

"A Paris morning paper, the _Journal_, plays the _role_ of introducer
of the new Counany Ambassador. This Ambassador is a certain M. Brezet,
who comes to France, in spite of the sentence of the arbitral tribunal,
as President of a State which is described by all competent authorities
as a _pseudo_-republic, summarily wiped off the map as an independent
State. M. Brezet, moreover, is a Parisian who has served, it is said,
in the French forces in Guiana. He is now for the second time enjoying
the confidence of the Counanians, strong in the prestige won by his
success in having repulsed the Brazilians who sought dutifully to carry
out the terms of the clauses of the Berne Decree. 'After having
prepared the military and administrative reorganization of Counany, he
has come on a mission to Europe to defend the interests entrusted to
him.' Such is the story reported by the _Journal_.

"Counany, now described as the vast territory between the Amazon and
the two Guianas, is not merely a relatively accessible stretch of
coast-line and _Hinterland_ for a certain enterprising Eu