NEWS AND NOTES

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 5, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 18.

FOREIGN.

—Spanish atrocities in the Philippines are said to be much worse than reported, and scores of pacificos are being shot without even the semblance of a trial.

—On March 21 a disastrous explosion occurred in a New South Wales colliery at Dudley, ten miles from Newcastle, in which fifteen men lost their lives.

—The French naval squadron has been ordered to cruise in the waters of the West Indies during the continuance of the war between the United States and Spain.

—A despatch from Peru states that representatives of the governments of Chile and Peru have signed a protocol which puts an end to the disputes between the two republics.

—During the week General Blanco has issued several decrees, in one of which he declared the island of Cuba again under martial law, and proclaimed the island in a state of war.

—It is reported that President Simon Sam, of Haiti, and President Heureaux, of Santo Domingo, have agreed to submit to the pope the entire boundary dispute between the two countries.

—The Spanish Government has issued a decree stating that she will consider the crews of privateers acting against her interests as pirates, and treat them as such, and their vessels as piratical craft.

—A battle is reported to have taken place between the troops of Nicaragua and Costa Rica at Liberia. The Nicaraguans seem to have been victorious, and have made prisoners of a number of Costa Rican officers.

—The emissaries of Generals Pando and Blanco who were sent to General Gomez with peace proposals and valuable presents, have been ordered to return on pain of death, the old general burning the presents before their eyes.

—About 20,000 members of the Republican party of Spain have offered their services to Señor Castellar in the event that he should declare a republic; but it is believed that from motives of patriotism he will be restrained from taking such a step.

—A Rome correspondent of the London Standard says: “The queen of Spain asked the blessing of the pope on Spanish arms. His holiness replied that he sent it from his heart, and hoped to see a vindication of Spain’s rights, which had been trampled upon.”

—It is reported that the entire Italian press, with one exception, expresses sympathy for the United States in the position which she has taken in the present difficulty with Spain, while the government has taken a position identical with that of England.

—A despatch from St. Thomas states that advices from Porto Rico are meager but alarming, and indicate that a food outbreak may occur at any time. The laborers in the interior have no work, and consequently no money to pay the high prices demanded for provisions.

—It is reported that the Spanish troops have abandoned the trocha constructed by General Weyler across the province of Principe from ocean to ocean. The Spanish soldiers who had been guarding this trocha presented a pitiable spectacle, with their gaunt forms and ragged uniforms.

—The Government of Spain has issued a decree defining its course during the present war with the United States, and stating that it reserves the right to grant letters of marque to privateering vessels, but confining itself for the present to fitting out auxiliary cruisers from vessels of the merchant marine.

—Portugal has notified the Spanish fleet to leave the Cape Verde Islands. This action was taken after representations by the United States Government that if Portugal continued to allow the Spanish fleet to make Cape Verde Islands a base of operations, she would be considered an ally of Spain and an enemy of the United States.

—During the week a rumor has been circulated to the effect that Spain would transfer her sovereignty in Cuba to the empire of Austria-Hungary, thus seriously complicating the present situation, as the United States Government would not acquiesce in such a transfer, having already declared itself in the recent joint resolution upon the Cuban question.

—The Spanish minister who recently withdrew from Washington, is still in Canada with his suite, and it is expected that he will remain there for some time. The State Department at Washington is said to be investigating the rumor that these officials are perfecting plots against the American Government. If the rumor proves true, the Canadian Government will be requested to take action in the matter.

DOMESTIC.

—The first American belligerent to land in Cuba was Lieut. John C. Fremont, son of the famous pathfinder.

—A joint resolution was passed by Congress on April 21, authorizing the President at his discretion to prohibit the exportation of coal and all other war material.

—A large consignment of mules designed for the Spanish army in Cuba was seized by United States officers at New Orleans on April 21, and will be held as contraband of war.

—Secretary of State Sherman’s resignation was presented to the President on April 26 and accepted. Judge Day, the former Assistant Secretary, was chosen to fill the place.

—The United States Consul in Honolulu has purchased for this government all the available coal in that port, for the use of United States war ships, about 15,000 tons in all.

—A report from Alaska states that two Swedish loggers have discovered an island in the Yukon River which is exceptionally rich in gold, the gravel running $9.00 to the pan.

—Senator Edward C. Walthall, of Mississippi, died at Washington on April 21. The remains were accompanied by a congressional committee to the senator’s home at Holly Springs, Miss.

—The last information from Alaska in regard to the Chilcoot Pass avalanche is to the effect that fifty-five bodies have thus far been recovered, and it is believed that sixteen others are still under the snow.

—On April 23 President McKinley issued a proclamation calling for 125,000 volunteers, who are to serve for two years unless sooner discharged. The greater part of these will be enlisted from the ranks of the National Guard.

—It is reported to be the intention of the State Department to send to the Cuban patriots at once large supplies of clothing, arms, ammunition, and medicines, which will enable them to equip an army of from 35,000 to 40,000 men.

—United States Minister Woodford received his passports from the Spanish Government on April 21, shortly after the reception by that government of the ultimatum presented by the United States. Minister Woodford is now in France.

—The American fleet which has been for some time at Hongkong has sailed for the Philippine Islands with the intention of destroying the Spanish fleet at that place and co-operating with the insurgents for the capture of the islands.

—The three bandits concerned in the hold-up of the overland train at Oro Grande, California, on April 20, have been captured, and are awaiting trial. The one who was shot by the express messenger is believed to have been mortally wounded.

—On April 26 a series of explosions occurred at the California Powder Works near Santa Cruz, wrecking a number of the buildings in which smokeless powder was being manufactured for the government. Ten of the employees were killed outright, and one stranger, whose presence in the vicinity could not be explained. There are many rumors afloat to the effect that the explosion was the result of a plot on the part of Spanish agents to cripple the forces of the United States.

—Since the blockade of the ports of Cuba the following vessels have been captured by the American squadron and brought into Key West: Buena Ventura, $50,000; Pedro, $140,000; Mathilde, $30,000; Miguel Joves, $284,000; Candidia, $40,000; Altonia, $15,000; Catalina, $500,000; Saturnina, Ambrosio Bolivar, Canelita, Paquet, Pirento, Antonio, and Panama, the last a very valuable prize. So far only one American vessel has fallen into the hands of the Spaniards, which was captured near the Philippines.

—The United States coast defense monitor Monadnock arrived at Neah Bay, Washington, on April 6, direct from San Francisco; the newly purchased dynamite cruiser Nichteroy is on her way from Brazil with a Brazilian escort; the battle-ship Oregon is reported well up the South American coast on her way to join Admiral Sampson’s fleet. The cruiser New Orleans, recently purchased in England, is on her way across the Atlantic to join the North Atlantic squadron; and the cruisers Minneapolis and Columbia are on patrol duty along the New England coast.

—On the afternoon of April 27 Admiral Sampson’s flag-ship New York, with the monitor Puritan and the cruiser Cincinnati, shelled the fortifications at Matanzas, Cuba, and reduced them after about twenty minutes’ firing. Not a shot from the fortifications on shore touched the vessels engaged in bombarding the forts, but the firing from the vessels is reported to have been exceedingly accurate, and accompanied with considerable loss of life. No one was hurt on any of the vessels. The Spanish fleet is reported to have sailed from the Cape Verde Islands, but its destination is not known. There has been considerable anxiety to know the position which would be taken by the powers of Europe in regard to the war, and not all of them have yet declared their position. However, Russia, England, France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland have declared their intention to maintain absolute neutrality. Germany reserves her decision, while Austria and Portugal have not yet declared themselves. Nearly the entire force of the regular army is now mobilized at Tampa, Chickamauga, and New Orleans, and the work of preparing the army of 125,000 volunteers for which the President has called, is going forward rapidly.

—On April 26, President McKinley issued a proclamation in regard to the course of America during the present war with relation to the vessels of foreign nations carrying the enemy’s goods and the goods of neutral nations under the enemy’s flag. The rules which the President lays down in this matter are the rules adopted by the great powers of Europe (with the single exception of Spain), and known as the Declaration of Paris, altho neither Spain nor the United States were signers of that declaration. By these rules a neutral flag protects the enemy’s goods, except contraband of war, and neutral goods, not contraband of war, are not liable to seizure under the enemy’s flag. Spanish ships in ports of the United States are given thirty days in which to leave without molestation.