postage stamps; and Thurn
and Taxis followed suit in 1867. In 1870 the North German
Confederation was merged in the German Empire, which issued its first
postage stamp with the Imperial eagle in 1872. But the Empire is not
yet sufficiently united to place a portrait of the Emperor upon its
Imperial postal series.

Indian postage stamps, overprinted with the initials "C.E.F.", for the
China Expeditionary Force, _i.e._ the Indian troops sent to China in
1901 to relieve the besieged Embassies, mark an historical event of no
small import.

The early provisional issues of Crete of 1898 indicate the joint
interference of the Great Powers in its affairs, and the later issues,
in 1900, bear the portrait of Prince George of Greece as High
Commissioner of Crete.

The Confederate locals of America, issued, in 1861-3, by the
postmasters of the Southern States when they were cut off by the war
from the capital and its supplies of postage stamps, and each town was
thrown upon its own resources, proclaim the period of the great
American Civil War.

Collectors are all familiar with the long series of portraits of past
Presidents of the United States, from Washington to Garfield.

The stamps of Don Carlos mark the Carlist rising in Spain in 1873.

But amongst the most interesting of all stamps that may be classed as
historical finger posts, none equal in present-day interest the stamps
of the Transvaal, for they tell of the struggle for supremacy in South
Africa. In 1870 the Boers issued their first postage stamp, and a
crude piece of workmanship it was, designed and engraved in Germany.
Till 1877 they printed their supplies of postage stamps in their own
crude way from the same crude plates. Then came the first British
Occupation, when the remainders of the stamps of the first South
African Republic were overprinted "V.R. TRANSVAAL," to indicate
British government. Then, in 1878, the stamps of the Republic were
replaced by our Queen's Head. In 1881 the country was given back to
the Boers, when they in turn overprinted our Queen's Head series in
Boer currency, to indicate the restoration of Boer domination. And
now, finally, in 1900 we have the second British Occupation, and a
second overprinting of South African Republic stamps "V.R.I.", to
signalise once more, and finally, the supremacy of British rule in
South Africa. The Mafeking stamps are also interesting souvenirs of a
gallant stand in the same historical struggle.

The