News and Miscellany

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 15, 1873

News and Miscellany.

“Can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

The Cloud in the East.

The intelligence just flashed across the Atlantic of the new attitude assumed by the Servian government toward the Porte in refusing to pay the usual tribute of $1,000,000, may seem in itself insignificant, but the possible results of that act are by no means to be regarded in such a light. Should Turkey determine to enforce its payment and send, as it is said she intends to do, an armed force for that purpose, she will with her own hand again unloose that terrible European bete noir, of the Eastern question. A very general misapprehension prevails in regard to the strength of the Servian army. The gazetteers and encyclopedias generally state that the regular force does not exceed two thousand men, with a militia force of forty thousand, but recent European statistical reports state that, with the exception of Germany, Servia has the most perfect military organization on the continent. In 1865 the Prussian system was introduced into the country, and it is now possible to place, at short notice, 150,000 troops, armed with breech-loading rifles, in the field, and to re-enforce that force, within one month, by fifty thousand reserves. With the peculiar configuration of the country to aid them, this number might successfully oppose an army of half a million, a greater force than Turkey would be able to send against them. With the possibilities and probabilities that attach to the future action of both powers, further news from that part of the world will be awaited with anxiety.—Boston Globe.

Increase of Crime in New York.

The certainty of Foster’s execution does not seem to have any salutary influence in lessening crime in New York. On Sunday night, March 30, a young man waiting for a car in the upper part of Madison avenue, was assaulted by two men. He escaped, and jumping on the car, appealed to the conductor and passengers for protection from the ruffians who followed him. His appeal was in vain, the cowardly passengers being afraid to interfere, while the brutes drew their knives and attacked him, cutting off one of his ears and otherwise injuring him, until he succeeded in escaping from the car. His assailants again overtook him, knocked him down, and robbed him, doing their work with utter disregard to the existence of policeman or passengers. On the next day, three drunken men attacked a German saloon-keeper, knocked him down, beat him terribly, fatally stabbed his wife and a neighbor who came to his assistance, then, leaving the saloon, stabbed a man who was passing, and finally made their escape, leaving no trace to their identity. The same night, a gang of roughs attacked the passengers in a horse-car on Third avenue, and a lively skirmish with revolvers took place, during which the conductor and a passenger were shot, and the roughs escaped. In addition to these acts of violence, there was an unusual amount of thieving, issuing of forged railroad bonds, and other crimes.

Resurrection of Napoleonism.

The death of Napoleon III. should have been the death of Napoleonism. But no; with a faith worthy of a better object, it is now announced by a recent correspondent of the Rainbow that, as Napoleon I. was the only man who possessed all the qualifications and characteristics required of the “man of sin,” “antichrist,” etc., he is to rise from the dead and become the great scourge of the church and world. Well, this is certainly laughing at difficulties. It would seem that if men were born to do a work, they would not die without accomplishing it. If they failed in the first life, they might in the second. And, then, if Providence had assigned them a mission, it would seem as if they ought to have arrived on time, and not come too soon for its fulfillment.

A recognition of the work of the past would save all this speculation. Centuries of blood and waste to the church of God were not overlooked by the prophets, to point out a trouble of a few months’ duration. The prophecies should not be so cramped in their application. They treat more of offices and nations than individuals. They have a comprehensive fulfillment which may be studied in the light of history, and deductions made therefrom. The great powers of prophecy are in the past. The “man of sin” . . . will soon be destroyed by the “brightness of his [Christ’s] coming.” Let us, then, look for Christ instead of antichrist; the Man of righteousness instead of the “man of sin.”—Herald of Life.

Central America.

TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKE.

Aspinwall, via. Havanna, April 10.—The city of San Salvador, Central America, has been destroyed by an earthquake. Eight hundred persons perished, and $12,000,000 worth of property was destroyed. The earthquake was followed by conflagrations, and many buildings were burned. For a few days, slight shocks of earthquake occurred, but no serious apprehensions were entertained. It was on the afternoon of the 4th of March, about 4:30 o’clock, almost without warning, that a great part of the city was reduced to little more than ruins. The ground heaved as a ship in a gale;

TERRIBLE THUNDERINGS

burst from under foot; walls tottered and were rent in many places with wide crevices; roofs, tiles, etc., were precipitated to the ground, and lamps, pitchers, basins, glass, etc., were overturned and broken. Three violent shocks followed in succession, and the servants commenced to scream piteously and could not be pacified. Wild birds flew to houses, horses grew frantic in their stables, and dogs, howling, slunk for protection. Every few minutes shakings of less violence occurred.

THE SCENE BEGGARS DESCRIPTION.

Ruined houses, panic-stricken people, men, women, and children fleeing to the fields, with valuables hastily collected; then the ringing of the alarm bells and beating of drums, calling all the soldiers under arms, for in San Salvador, murder and pillage accompany the confusion of great earthquakes; and as the frightened citizens leave the towns, the dusky Indians from the forests

PROWL FOR PREY

into it, only checked by the bayonets of the government troops. These were posted in squads at short distances all over San Salvador.

THE POPE SERIOUSLY ILL.

New York, April 11.—A special to the New York World, dated Rome, April 11, says the pope is suffering from rheumatic fever and ulceration of the leg. His illness is extremely serious.

The English Coal Famine.

A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette says: “The death-rate rises week by week. Meetings are held among the cotton manufacturers of the north to determine on short time. Some factories are actually stopped. Railways are raising their terms for traffic. The companies who work ocean steamers are preparing to reduce the speed and the frequency of their voyages, and to raise their freights. Indignation meetings, very blind and unpractical, are being held in various places to deplore the high price of coal, and to denounce all whom the speakers fancy are concerned in causing it. Furnaces in the busiest districts are being blown out daily; and even at the recently advanced rates, iron cannot be produced without loss at the actual prices of coal and materials.” The decline in price in London and at other points in the vicinity of mines is attributed chiefly to the actual or threatened reduction of the demand in consequence of the check to commercial and manufacturing activity, a danger which if not averted will impair the wealth and prosperity of the nation by reducing the demand for labor and throwing thousands of workmen out of employment. It is estimated that the rise in coal has loaded down the productive industry of the country with the enormous additional burden of $250,000,000 per annum.