Notes of News | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 23, 1879

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 53, No. 4.

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Notes of News.

—2,245 Communists have been pardoned in Paris.

—Several Socialists have been expelled from Metz. Are they bound for America?

—In recent storms on the Atlantic several vessels have been lost.

—The Thames Embankment, London, is now lighted by electricity.

—The floors of Stewart’s up-town store cover an aggregate area of eighteen acres.

—The East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia railway have discontinued all Sunday trains.

—An ice bridge has been formed at Niagara Falls, said to be sixty feet through.

—Sunday morning performances have been introduced into all the theaters in Paris.

—It is believed that about 60 persons were killed in a recent coal-mine explosion in Wales.

—The prevalent impression at Fort Robinson, Neb., is that a bloody Indian war is imminent.

—It is rumored that the Russian General Kaufman has invited the Ameer of Afghanistan to come to Tashkend, Turkistan.

—With one exception, all the cardinals consulted by the pope favor Catholics participating in elections in Italy.

—Owing to its local prohibition law, Missouri has 16 counties in which there is not a single liquor saloon.

—The English New Testament revisers have announced the completion of their second and final revision. They commenced their work in June, 1870.

—The Prime Minister of Tunis, on behalf of the Bey, has tendered a full apology to the French Consulate. Probably war will be averted.

—There were 27,005 deaths in the city of New York last year, of which 53.15 per cent were in tenement houses.

—It is estimated that there are 49,525 sailing vessels afloat, with a tonnage of 14,218,072 tons, while there are but 5,462 steamers, with a tonnage of 5,955,175 tons.

—Bible-burning does not succeed even in Syria. Some Jesuits in Tyre, who showed their hatred of the word of God in this way, excited such dislike that they were obliged to leave.

—A fire in New York City, the past week, destroyed property to the value of between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000. One fireman was killed, and several others are injured and some are missing.

—Living creatures would hardly seem the thing to post by mail, but on an average a million of packages containing canary and other birds, and bees, are annually sent through the German post-office.

—During 1878 there were 917 business failures in New York City, with liabilities amounting to $64,000,000, and with but about $18,700,000 assets; a greater number of failures than in any previous year.

—The Bridgeport (Ct.) Sabbath Association failed to secure the conviction of several persons whom they had arrested, because the complaint charged them with selling their wares on the “Sabbath,” instead of on “Sunday.”

—While the annual increase of wealth of our country is about $700,000,000, the annual loss by fire is about $100,000,000. The “Mail” estimates that in the last 14 years the flames have devoured an amount almost sufficient to pay the national debt.

—The Austro-Turkish Convention will be signed shortly. It will leave Austria free to administer Bosnia and Herzegovina, continue the Turkish administration, and establish a mixed occupation of Novi-Bazar.

—The National Zeitung, a Prussian paper, says that European capitalists will loan money to Russia only on condition that Russia withdraws her troops from Turkey and forbears to engage in a fresh war in Asia.

—The Irish bishop of Galway furnishes a new illustration of the inhuman intolerance of ultra-Romanism in his refusal to consecrate a new cemetery unless its Roman Catholic trustees rescind their resolution to enlarge the plot assigned to Protestants.

—The miners along the railroads in Western Pennsylvania demand an increase of wages. It is not probable that their demand will be acceded to, and the result will be that several thousand men will be thrown out of employment.

—There is great excitement in France over the political situation. The present cabinet is threatened, and its overthrow would lead to MacMahon’s retirement and a government with a revolutionary programme, which would profoundly derange society throughout France.

—The fact that about ten per cent of the wills offered for probate in the city of New York last year were contested, should be considered by those who are leaving the execution of their benevolent plans to their survivors, instead of attending to them in their own lives.

—A correspondent of the Christian Union exposes the fact that slavery in its worst forms continues unchecked in Turkey, and that hundreds of youth from Christian families in the provinces overrun by the late war are held as slaves by their Mohammedan owners.

—To the close of the year 1878, 457 injunctions had been issued in Germany in accordance with the anti-socialist law. These were applied to 189 clubs and societies, 58 periodicals, and 210 non-periodical publications. 62 persons were expelled from the empire under the same law.

—The Giant Powder Works of Bandmann, Neilson & Co., about half a mile from Golden Gate, Cal., were recently destroyed by an explosion. 4 white men and an unknown number of Chinamen were killed, and many buildings in the neighborhood were completely destroyed.

—A recent official report states that in the battles fought by Austrian troops since 1495, the losses in killed and wounded have amounted to 1,085,931 men, including 261 generals, and 17,096 officers, while 56 of their generals, 4,174 other officers, and 289,041 men were taken prisoners.

—The Hebrew festival of Chamecka, in commemoration of the triumph of Israel over the Syrian oppressors under Antiochus Epiphanes, was celebrated Dec. 28, at the Terrace Garden Theater, New York, by the performance of “Judea Delivered,” under the direction of Dr. Gottheil.

—The Congregational ministers of Chicago in discussing popular amusements at their meeting last week, generally agreed that cards, billiards, theaters, dancing, etc., were not evils in themselves but had become evils, and that the line of true reform lay, not against amusements per se, but in overcoming evil with good.

—Governor Hartranft, in his message to the Pennsylvania Legislature, spoke of the conflict between labor and capital as “the great question of the day.” He says that besides the enormous losses occasioned to property, and to laborers by the interruption of wages, the labor troubles in Pennsylvania have cost $1,000,000 for their suppression during the last 8 years.

—Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 13.—A severe shock of an earthquake was felt last night about 11:45. It lasted about thirty seconds and had a southeast to northwest motion. Buildings were violently shaken, crockery rattled, and doors were thrown open. The shock was felt at St. Augustine and down the gulf coast, from Punta Rassa to St. Marks, as well as over the interior portion of the State. Nothing of the kind was ever experienced here before.

—A German correspondent says that the pope is an object of universal pity at Rome; that he weeps piteously and has aged much; that he frequently packs up to go to Perugia, but at the last moment changes his mind; that he is in deadly fear of poison, and only eats food brought to him by his brother, making his own coffee, and keeping his wine under lock and key. Two attempts, the correspondent says, have already been made to poison him. When he took ill after drinking a glass of wormwood, some of the cardinals tried to dissuade his brother from bringing any other than the Vatican doctors; but he called an outside physician, who administered a powerful antidote.

FRANCE—The Protestant Movement.—At a recent meeting of the National Club in London, some deeply interesting facts were developed as to the progress of vital religion in France. The population of that country, it was stated, is about 36,000,000, of which 1,000,000 are Protestants and 5,000,000 Ultramontanists; while the remainder, though nominally Catholics, are really destitute of all religious belief. Since the Republican victories of a year ago, when religious liberty became an established fact, a decided movement has prevailed all over the land toward Protestantism. That under the direction of M. Reveillaud at Bourg, in the Department of Ain, we have already mentioned. In the Central Department of Allier there are three towns; Commentry, Montluçon and Bézenet. Ten years ago there were about sixty Protestants in this district, now there are nearly a thousand, almost all of them proselytes. At Montargis, in the neighboring Department of Loiret (the birthplace of Admiral Coligny), one year ago there were between forty and fifty Protestants. Now there are one hundred and fifty, the largest portion being proselytes. At Chateauroux, in Indre, a Roman Catholic officer was buried with all the pomp due to a faithful and wealthy son of the church. In his will was a clause expressing a desire that his fellow-townsmen should possess a Protestant place of worship, for the building of which he left the necessary funds. At Pouilly-sur-Loire, near Sancerre, are now three congregations of eight hundred proselytes. The neighboring town of La Marche contains one hundred and fifty proselytes. The Reformed Church of France receives aid from the State wherever there are not less than two hundred Protestants possessing a place of worship of their own. When such aid is given it may therefore be concluded that the movement is of a permanent character. Thus, quite recently six hundred Protestants in Fresnoy, in the north, have been adopted by the State. At Valenciennes, where twenty years ago there were only forty Protestants, there is now a church of two hundred and fifty receiving a grant from the State. At Lyons, with its 350,000 inhabitants, the very metropolis of infidelity, reigning side by side with skepticism and atheism, three mission rooms were opened on the 17th of November. The meetings are described as crowded, and remarkable for order and attention. An ouvrière said, with tears, “Never in my life have I heard the truth thus explained. My conscience answers to it. This is what I want.” From the South and West the same encouraging reports come. In Paris the meetings of Mr. MacAll are conducted in twenty-two mission stations with an average weekly attendance of 8,000 adults. Already they have worked a surprising change in the order and morality of some of the worst districts of the city. The interest of the French people in religious truth is perhaps best witnessed by the fact that in the Trocadéro, during the Exhibition, 1,500,000 copies of the Gospels besides 20,000 Scripture cards and 3,000 Testaments and Bibles were distributed to grateful recipients.—Christian Union.