of $20,000,000, and a
republic was established in Cuba, under the United States protectory.

Hawaii had been annexed, and was made a territory, in 1900.

A revolt against the United States in the Philippine Islands was put
down, in 1901, after two years.

McKinley was elected to a second term, with a still more overwhelming
majority over Bryan.

McKinley was assassinated on September 6, 1901, at the Pan-American
Exposition at Buffalo, by an Anarchist. Theodore Roosevelt, the
Vice-President, succeeded him, and was re-elected, in 1904, defeating
Alton B. Parker.

Roosevelt intervened in the Anthracite Coal Strike, in 1902, recognised
the revolutionary Republic of Panama, and in his administration, the
United States acquired the Panama Canal Zone, and began work on the
inter-oceanic canal. Great efforts were made, during his administration,
to repress the big corporations by prosecutions, under the Sherman
Anti-Trust Law. The conservation of natural resources was also taken up
as a fixed policy.

* * * * *

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT

History of the Conquest of Mexico

The "Conquest of Mexico" is a spirited and graphic narrative
of a stirring episode in history. To use his own words, the
author (see p. 271) has "endeavoured to surround the reader
with the spirit of the times, and, in a word, to make him a
contemporary of the 16th century."

_I. The Mexican Empire_

Of all that extensive empire which once acknowledged the authority of
Spain in the New World, no portion, for interest and importance, can be
compared with Mexico--and this equally, whether we consider the variety
of its soil and climate; the inexhaustible stores of its mineral wealth;
its scenery, grand and picturesque beyond example; the character of its
ancient inhabitants, not only far surpassing in intelligence that of the
other North American races, but reminding us, by their monuments, of the
primitive civilisation of Egypt and Hindostan; and lastly, the peculiar
circumstances of its conquest, adventurous and romantic as any legend
devised by any Norman or Italian bard of chivalry. It is the purpose of
the present narrative to exhibit the history of this conquest, and that
of the remarkable man by whom it was achieved.

The country of the ancient Mexicans, or Aztecs as they were called,
formed but a very small part of the extensive territories comprehended
in the modern R