re few who in their hearts did not believe the Republic to be
a colossal fraud, and therefore there were few who regretted it.

The _Ithuriel_ passed slowly over the heads of the wondering crowd,
and came to a standstill alongside the steps on which Tremayne was
standing. The crowd saw a man on her deck shake hands with Tremayne
and give him a folded paper. Then the air-ship swept gracefully
upward again in a spiral curve until she hung motionless over the
dome of the Capitol.

Amidst a silence born of breathless interest to know the import of
this message from the sky, Tremayne opened the paper, glanced at its
contents, and handed it to the senior officer in command of the
brigades, who stood beside him. This man, a veteran who had grown
grey in the service of the Brotherhood, advanced with the open paper
in his hand, and read out in a loud voice--

Natas sends greeting to the Brotherhood in America. The work has
been well done, and the reward of patient labour is at hand. This
is to name Alan Tremayne, Chief of the Central Executive, first
President of the Anglo-Saxon Federation throughout the world, and
to invest him with the supreme authority for the ordering of its
affairs. The aerial navy of the Brotherhood is placed at his
disposal to co-operate with the armies and fleets of the
Federation.

NATAS.

When the mighty shout of acclamation which greeted the reading of
this commission had died away, Tremayne stepped forward again and
spoke the few words that now remained to be said--

"I accept the office and all that it implies. The fate of the world
lies in our hands, and as we decide it so will the future lot of
humanity be good or evil. The armies of the Franco-Slavonian League
are now masters of the continent of Europe, and are preparing for the
invasion of Britain. The first use that I shall make of the authority
now vested in me will be to summon the Tsar in the name of the
Federation to sheathe the sword at once, and relinquish his designs
on Britain. The moment that one of his soldiers sets foot on the
sacred soil of our motherland I shall declare war upon him, and it
shall be a war, not of conquest, but of extermination, and we will
make an end of tyranny on earth for ever.

"Now let those who are not on guard-duty go to their homes, and
remember that they are now citizens of a greater realm than the
United States, and endowed with more than national duties and