News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 17, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 11.

FOREIGN.

—General Blanco has imprisoned a number of newspaper correspondents in Cabanas fortress, and ordered others to leave the island at once.

—A despatch from Hongkong says that a fresh rebellion has broken out in the Philippines, and that fifty-three Spanish soldiers have been killed.

—Rioting was renewed in Prague on March 7 between the German and Czech students, and during the interference of the police a number were seriously injured.

—The Spanish consul at Key West has been recalled by his government, the alleged reason for his recall being his inability to prevent filibusters leaving the coast of Florida.

—Japan, Sweden, and Germany have asked the State Department for lists of their subjects who were killed in the explosion which sent the Maine to the bottom of the Havana harbor.

—The Antarctic polar expedition started from Terre del Fuego for the pole on December 27, according to a letter just received at New York from the surgeon of the expedition.

—It is reported that Prospero Morales, the Guatemalan exile, will leave Mexico for Guatemala in a few days, upon the assurances of his supporters that he will be elevated to the presidency.

—The insurgent leader Roque, on March 9, attacked the Spanish garrison at Ciega de Avila. The battle continued for five hours, and is reported to have been a Cuban victory, in which the Spanish lost 123 wounded and over 100 killed. Several filibustering expeditions have landed recently, giving the insurgents a fresh supply of ammunition.

—The Chinese of the Straits Settlements have begun a strong movement for the abolishing of the queue, and the movement has found much favor and support from the most influential mandarins there.

—A report comes from Panama that Costa Rica and Nicaragua have begun war upon one another without waiting for a formal declaration. A battle is reported to have occurred on the frontier near Liberia.

—Incubation by the use of electricity is rapidly becoming an extensive industry in Germany, and it has been demonstrated that one hundred chickens may be expected for every hundred eggs incubated by this process.

—A fire in the Saturn and Soznowice mine in Breslau, Prussia, on March 5, resulted in the death of many employed in the mine. Twenty bodies have been recovered so far, and others are entombed in the burning mine.

—Reports to the State Department at Washington state that a revolution has broken out in Venezuela, the revolutionists operating in the vicinity of Caracas. It is supposed that the insurrection is directed against the newly-elected president Andrade.

—The consumption of liquor increases with each year in England. For the year 1897 the amount expended in the United Kingdom was $17,500,000 more than for the year previous, or over $19 for every man, woman, and child in the kingdom.

—Prince Albert of Belgium has decided to make a tour of the United States, traveling incognito under the title of the Count de Rethy. The prince comes to this country to study political economy, sociology, and manufactures. He is the heir to the Belgian throne.

—A contract has been entered into for the construction of a railroad 350 miles in length, reaching from the mining regions of Chihuahua, Mexico, to the Gulf of California. By the terms of the contract 120 miles of the road must be in operation by November 1.

—The red flag of anarchy is floating over the Chinese island of Hai-Nan, where 5,000 anarchists, under the leadership of disbanded soldiers of the late war, are marching to and fro, leaving a wake of fire, blood, and pillage in their path. The Chinese troops have been unable to disperse them.

—It is reported that the viceroys of three of the northern Chinese provinces have entered into a compact to conduct their own government, irrespective of the wishes of the emperor. This will split China in two; and this triumvirate will then have full control of the whole Yang-tse-Kiang valley.

—The refusal of the Spanish Government to pay for the big dry dock which an English firm has now about completed in Havana, until after a number of heavy cruisers had been docked in it, resulted in the immediate despatch of a British war vessel to that port to enforce the demands of the constructor.

—Considerable alarm is manifested in high quarters in France over the large number of Roman Catholic priests who are deserting to Protestantism. The Gazette de France, in commenting on this, says: “Never has such a desertion from the Catholic ranks been witnessed as is going on at the present time.”

—The governor of the province of Kerman has routed the insurgents at several places in Persia and Beluchistan, and it is expected that order there will soon be restored. At Hamadan, capital of the Persian province of that name, serious riots occurred on February 22, due to a quarrel between partisans of rival priests, during which twenty-seven priests were killed.

—Japan is demanding of China a signed statement to the effect that the war indemnity will be paid upon the date set. It now seems that China will be unable to make the payment unless she can secure the money from England and Germany for which she has been negotiating; but Russia has lodged a formal protest against the proposed loan, and the demands which she has made in connection with her protest are said to be inimical to the peace of the Orient.

—Serious plague riots occurred in the native quarters at Bombay on March 9. The total losses of the rioters at the hands of the British soldiers who were sent to suppress them, is not yet known, but the incident is regarded as one of the most serious which has occurred in India for many years. A number of Europeans also were killed by the maddened Mohammedans and Hindus. A detachment of artillery and cavalry is now patrolling the streets of Bombay to preserve order.

—Deer Island, off the coast of Corea, has been leased to Russia for a long term of years, and will be used by that government as a naval and coaling station. The Corean official who closed the deal with Russia has been impeached, and the Japanese Government is manifesting considerable irritation over the matter. Japan has warned China that serious consequences will follow if she accedes to certain demands which Russia has recently made upon her. Russia and France seem to have a secret understanding in regard to matters in the Orient, and are acting in harmony, and in opposition to the position which England has taken in Chinese matters, and to her interests in Africa. It is said that England, in view of these circumstances, is preparing for war.

—The British naval estimates for the year were issued on March 8. They include an expenditure of $7,202,000; increase the personnel of the navy by 6,340 men; and provide for the building of three more battle-ships, four armored cruisers, and four sloops of war. In addition to this England now has in course of construction twelve battle-ships, sixteen first-class cruisers, six second-class cruisers, ten third-class cruisers, six sloops of war, four twin-screw gunboats, and forty-one torpedo-boat destroyers.

—Oriental advices say that the Laio-Tong province, China, is in a state of great alarm, and many rumors are afloat of a Russian invasion, and capture by Russian troops, of a vast territory in China composed of hundreds of towns and hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural lands. The number of troops in the invading army is said to be 50,000, while the Chinese troops in that vicinity number only 5,000. As a result of the invasion the Chinese inhabitants are leaving the province in large numbers.

DOMESTIC.

—Six more of the victims of the Maine disaster were buried at Key West, Florida, on March 7.

—Columbia University, of New York, has just received a gift of $1,100,000 from Joseph F. Loubat.

—Nine persons were drowned by the capsizing of a small schooner in a squall near Key West, Florida, on March 3.

—The Hawley Bill, providing for the establishment of two new regiments of artillery, passed the House on March 7, and received the President’s signature.

—At Birmingham, Alabama, five children were burned to death on the night of March 2, the parents having locked them in the house for safe keeping during their absence.

—The Loud Postal Bill, which was designed to abolish the postal deficit by abridging the privileges of second-class matter, was defeated in the House on March 3 by a vote of 162 to 119.

—Señor Polo y Bernabe, the new Spanish minister to the United States, arrived in New York on March 9, and stated his intention of proceeding at once to his post of duty at Washington.

—The Standard Oil Company is to form another trust—a brick trust—which will control the brick trade of New York State, and will use the refuse of its oil refineries to burn the brick.

—Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens, of Dover, Maine, the recent national vice-president at large of the W. C. T. U., has been appointed successor to Miss Frances E. Willard, deceased, as president of the national union.

—The gunboat Newport has arrived at Aspinwall, Panama, with the Nicaragua commission on board. The commission has concluded its labors in the investigation of the canal route, and will soon be ready to report its findings.

—It has been decided not to send the supplies for the starving Cubans in the war vessels Montgomery and Nashville, and it seems that this change of plans was brought about by Spain’s protest against the war vessels going to Cuban ports. The cruiser Montgomery will go to Havana to relieve the despatch boat Fern, and this vessel will carry the supplies to the pacificos.

—The steam tug Dauntless, which has figured conspicuously in several filibustering expeditions, was libeled on March 7, at Jacksonville, Florida, by the government, and charges of filibustering were again laid against her.

—During the past week the Spanish Government intimated to the United States that Spain desired the recall of Consul-General Lee at Havana, the request not being made in the form of a demand; but the Washington administration promptly replied, refusing to recall the Consul-General, and the request has not been pressed.

—Senator Proctor, who has been making an investigation of the condition of the Cubans, has returned to America and reports that the misery of the reconcentrados is the most appalling spectacle the human sight can endure. The senator highly praises the work of Miss Clara Barton in relieving the starving and distressed.

—A new method of signaling by means of flash-lights has been devised by the signal corps of the United States Army, by which it is claimed that an ordinary message can be flashed from New York to San Francisco in six minutes. An aluminum light is used which is capable of throwing its flash rays a distance of thirty miles.

—The New York Voice, in its crusade against the use of liquor in colleges and universities, publishes the portraits of twenty persons prominent in the affairs of the country, who declare that they would not send a son to Yale or Princeton as long as liquor-drinking and other forms of vice are permitted by the directors of those institutions.

—The Universal Text Display Society is the name of a new religious organization founded by a Chicago traveling man, the object of the society being to display, in prominent places, forcible Scripture texts. The Gospel will in this way be taught to many who might not otherwise have their minds particularly called to the teachings of the Word.

—The passes over the Alaskan mountains at Dyea and Skaguay are already crowded with men and animals, and it is reported that the chaotic condition of things there can only be imagined by those who are experiencing it. Even the United States troops are unable to get over the summit, on account of the blockade of men, provisions, and pack animals.

—The Federal grand jury of California on March 3 brought indictments against 517 coal dealers of San Francisco for making and entering into a trust or combination in restraint of trade in fuel. Orders were received from Washington, D. C., to proceed against the members of this coal trust, and it is believed that the government intends taking action against certain other trusts as well.

—A resolution was introduced in the House on March 7, appropriating $50,000,000 for national defense, the sum to be placed at the disposal of the President. It was passed unanimously, and sent to the Senate, where it was put through without a dissenting voice, and signed by the President and Vice-president. It is understood that much of this money will be used in the purchase of war ships now completed in foreign countries. Capt. W. H. Brownson has been sent to Europe to examine vessels upon which it is believed the United States Government has secured options. On March 9 the President set aside $10,000,000 for the use of the ordnance bureau, the money to be used in equipping vessels to be purchased, and fitting out as auxiliary cruisers certain large Atlantic liners.

—It is announced that the two first-class battle-ships, Kentucky and Kearsarge, now under construction at Newport News, will be launched on March 24, which will be the first double launching of first-class battle-ships in the world. The Illinois, the third big battle-ship building at the same place, will follow one month later. It will require six months to put these vessels in commission after launching.

—Archbishop W. H. Gross, of Portland, Oregon, has issued a circular letter to the Catholic clergy and the laity in his diocese, in which, while expressing the hope that war between the United States and Spain may be averted, he takes the opportunity to call to the mind of his Catholic brethren “that should war break out between our republic and Spain, we are obliged in conscience to be loyal to the flag—the Stars and Stripes.”