News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 24, 1898

FOREIGN.

—Juan L. Cuestas, president ad interim of Uruguay, has issued a decree dissolving the assembly and placing himself in full power.

—Excellent rains in northern and central India, where the famine has been so disastrous for the past year, insure successful spring crops, but the plague still continues to spread alarmingly.

—China has consented to the demands of England for a railroad from Burma to Yannaland, and Germany has secured a concession for a railroad from Kaiochou to Icheau-Fu, as the price of a murdered sentry.

—An agreement between Chile and Peru for the settlement of questions about the ownership of the provinces of Tacna and Arica is practically a fact. It is hoped that this will avert the threatened war over the dispute between those two nations.

—The Holland-American steamer Vendam was wrecked in mid-ocean on February 6, and was fast sinking when the American liner St. Louis hove in sight and rescued the passengers and crew, who numbered 212 all told. Before abandoning the ship she was set on fire to insure her destruction.

—A riot of Socialists has occurred in several of the villages of Hungary, and troops sent to restore order have been defeated, with loss on both sides. The principal disturbances are at Kistarkany, Agrade, Karasse, and Szathmar. The Socialist agitation in Hungary continues to become more serious.

—The sultan’s veto to the scheme of Emperor Nicholas for the government of Crete, has finally disposed of the possibility of Prince George of Greece becoming its governor. The ambassadors are now trying to arrange a provisional government for the island under the supervision of two of the powers acting jointly.

—Bulgaria’s emphatic protest to the sultan against the treatment of Bulgarians at the hands of Turkish officers has aroused the Porte to the seriousness of the present situation, and Edhem Pasha, the victorious Turkish commander, has been ordered to Bulgaria to “institute inquiries into the outrages complained of by Bulgaria.”

—Reports from China show a growing feeling of animosity among the inhabitants, especially of the interior towns, against the foreigners of all nationalities. Missions have been attacked in several places, and the missionaries maltreated. Even in Shanghai, which is supposed to be well governed, foreigners are treated with great indignity. In many instances these anti-foreign mobs are led by soldiers or military students.

—A despatch from Singapore states that the British admiral, acting under instructions from his government, has bought all the available coal at Singapore and at the Chinese and Japanese ports, with the result that the foreign squadrons in those waters are almost immobilized, and are dependent upon England for the coal which they require. This would indicate that England is preparing for some important action in oriental affairs.

—The stipulations of the treaty between Great Britain and Abyssinia have been made public. It contains no such concessions to England as had been supposed; but Great Britain secures another open door to that country, and the “most-favored-nation” treatment in respect to imports and local taxation. King Menelek agrees to prevent arms and ammunition passing through his territory to the Mahdists, with whom England is now at war.

—The Buddhist and Shinto priests of Japan have begun an active campaign against Christianity and in defense of the old heathenism. They have hitherto paid little attention to the work of the Christian missionaries; but the radical change in the attitude of a large portion of the population toward Christianity and Christian civilization has aroused them to active opposition. This is an indication that the work of the missionaries is meeting with success.

—The Spanish cabinet has accepted the resignation of her minister at Washington, Enrique Depuy de Lome, and has formally expressed its regrets for the incident and its disavowal of the sentiments expressed in the letter which the minister wrote to Señor Canalejas criticising President McKinley. De Lome left Washington for New York en route for Madrid, on February 15, accompanied by his family. His place will be filled by Senator Bernabe, who will sail for Washington about February 22.

—The trial of M. Emile Zola, the famous French novelist, for the accusations recently made by him against certain French officials in connection with the Dreyfus case and the trial of Major Esterhazy, still continues, and the excitement in the French capital shows no signs of abating. The French Government seems to be using every effort to prevent the truth becoming known, and in this position is seconded by the army and the majority of the populace, so that the trial has been characterized as an opera bouffe.

—The terrible condition of the Cuban reconcentrados is again brought before the public by the well-known writer, Julian Hawthorne, who has recently made a tour of investigation in the island of Cuba. Even that versatile writer fails to find words to tell what the people there are now suffering. Hundreds are dying daily, and thousands of the living are little more than walking skeletons, covered with the sores which come from continual hunger. Clara Barton is instituting relief work among the sufferers, but many complaints are heard that the funds collected for that purpose are stolen or misappropriated by those who have been trusted with their distribution.

DOMESTIC.

—Fire in the business portion of New York on the night of February 11, destroyed property to the value of $1,000,000.

—The city of Gloucester, Mass., held her annual memorial services for her lost fishermen on February 13. During the past year ninety-six of her sons have found graves in the deep.

—The Alaskan steamer Clara Nevada is believed to have been wrecked between Skagway and Juneau on February 5 or 6, carrying her crew and passengers, numbering about forty, down with her.

—Fire in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the night of February 9, destroyed property valued at $1,500,000. Eleven persons are known to have lost their lives in the fire, twenty-six are missing, and eighteen injured.

—The German Government has modified its regulations in regard to the entry of American fruit at German ports, so that only such fruit as is actually infected by the shield louse will be prohibited a landing.

—Advices from Alaska state that five men were recently caught in a blizzard at the summit of Chilcoot Pass and frozen to death. Three others were brought to Dyea in a dying condition as a result of the terrible storm.

—The revenue cutter Bear, which carried the whaler’s relief expedition to Alaska, returned to Unalaska on December 22, having landed the overland expedition at the village of Tununak, whence it will proceed to Point Barrow.

—M. A. Hanna, the newly elected Ohio senator, has been summoned to appear before the bribery investigating committee of the Ohio Senate to answer to charges of bribery in connection with his recent campaign for the United States senatorship.

—A report from Skagway, Alaska, states that law and order in that town are practically unknown. A large number of notorious gamblers and other hard characters have been congregating there, and crime and vice in every form are rampant throughout the city.

—The Alaska Sanitary Company has been organized under the laws of the State of Illinois for the purpose of establishing hospitals in the principal towns of Alaska and the Klondike mining regions, and Dr. F. H. Booth has left for Alaska to carry out the purposes of the organization.

—It is reported that a large filibustering expedition left the eastern end of Long Island on the evening of February 13, bound for Cuba. Several armed tugs were despatched to intercept the steamer conveying the expedition, but their search for her was fruitless. Her cargo of arms and ammunition is believed to be one of the largest yet sent.

—A company of Chicago engineers, representing Chicago capitalists, have returned from Nicaragua, where they have been examining the proposed route of the Nicaragua Canal, and report that the difficulties to be overcome are much less than had been anticipated. The company they represent will bid for the construction of the canal.

—The Senate passed a bill on February 10 amending the navigation laws in respect to the coasting trade of this country. The bill is especially designed to prevent Canadian vessels securing a part of the coasting trade on the Pacific Coast, and the Canadian Government has decided to take action in retaliation for these adverse shipping regulations.

—The armored cruiser Maine, recently designated as a second-class battle-ship, which had been anchored in Havana harbor, Cuba, since January 25, was wrecked by an explosion on the night of February 15. Of her crew, 253 men were killed by the concussion, or drowned, or eaten by sharks in the harbor. As yet the cause of this, one of the most terrible disasters in the history of the American navy, is unexplained. Many naval experts do not hesitate to attribute it to the treachery of the Spanish, while others consider it purely an accident, and specify many ways in which such a thing could occur. By the explosion the forward part of the vessel was literally blown to pieces, and in three minutes only a portion of the upper deck remained above water. Only two of the officers were lost, as their quarters were well aft; but of the crew only eighteen escaped injury. Until divers have examined the hull, it will not be known whether the explosion was from within or without. If the latter, it is predicted that war will follow. The Maine was built in 1890, had a displacement of 6,682 tons, was 324 feet over all, had an indicated horse-power of 9,000, and her complement of men numbered 370. The cost of this battle-ship was $2,580,000.