SECULAR | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 10, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 47.

SECULAR.

—Peru has just been passing through a revolution.

—It is reported that there was an increase of the public debt during the month of November; and yet there are $200,000,000 in the Government treasury.

—The question of alien land-holding is beginning to attract attention, as foreign companies and individuals own large tracts of land in this country, the whole aggregating over 21,000,000 acres.

—According to Arizona dispatches, the Apache Indians have again been making trouble. Some murders have been committed in their numerous raids, and the country is in a state of terror.

—The steamship Alameda, which sailed November 23, carried the largest mail ever sent from the San Francisco post-office to Hawaii and Australia. It consisted of 281 bags, containing 21,930 letters and 59,781 papers.

—A bill to prohibit newspapers from publishing details of suicides is under consideration in the Legislature of Uruguay. The bill provides a fine of $250 for the first offense, and $500 or four months' imprisonment for the second.

—Advices from Aspinwall, dated December 5, report a hurricane on that coast. Vessels have been wrecked; but it is believed no lives have been lost. No railroads were running, and telegraphic communication was interrupted.

—The Chinese Government has authorized a system of harbor defenses. The carrying out of the plans will be intrusted to Li Hung Chang, the new Minister of Marine, who will also have charge of the construction of railroads in that empire.

—The United States Consul at Apia, in the Samoan Group, has notified the manager of the Merchants' Exchange, San Francisco, that a small island has appeared about forty miles from the Tonga Islands, in the track of Californian vessels trading with ports in the South Pacific.

—The unquiet state of Mexican politics is well known. That very uncertain republic is now at its old, familiar business,—dealing with a rebellion. It does not appear to be a very formidable rebellion this time, however; and a country that has had so much experience will probably have little difficulty in subduing the restless politicians who are making the trouble.

—That was a curious error of the California winemaker who sent forty large casks and two half casks of wine and brandy to Portland, Me., instead of to Boston. When there was danger of its confiscation, he realized his mistake, and Maine officials obligingly permitted him to rectify it.

—The clerk of the New York Board of Aldermen lately testified that among the officials drawing pay there is a librarian at $1,000 and an assistant librarian at $900 to look after the "library," which contains "a fine big Chinese Bible, quite a lot of the Proceedings of the Board, and some other books."

—It is believed that the recent heavy rains have made it certain that California will produce a large wheat crop the coming year. It is thought the yield will not be less than 1,200,000 tons. Another good result of the rain is the improved condition of the pastures, which are likely to be good throughout the year.

—It seems that the Chinese do not believe in alien land-holding. A Tientsin correspondent of the China Mail warns foreigners that grants for mining, railroad, or any other enterprise, are worthless. A Chinese mining concession can be nullified by any petty mandarin, unless exceptional privileges can be obtained.

—The bark Marquis of Lorne, which arrived in San Francisco from Hongkong, December 4, reports the loss at sea of the British ship Albula. Ten of the seamen were drowned. The remainder were rescued by the Marquis of Lorne, but in an almost starving condition, as they had had very little food or drink for eleven days.

—Queen Christina, the Spanish Regent, has formed a new cabinet, with Senor Segasta at its head. The new cabinet has accepted the settlement of the Caroline Islands question. By the terms of settlement the islands are left under Spanish control; but Germany is granted coaling and naval stations, and the right to establish farming colonies.

—King Thebaw, of Burmah, has surrendered unconditionally, and has been removed to Calcutta. An exciting political contest is going on in England; and it is believed that Lord Dufferin, the British Viceroy in India, will have put matters in Burmah in a final, decisive shape before the elections in England are over, and the Radicals have an opportunity to interfere.

—The conquest of Burmah gives England control of the great caravan route into Southwestern China. The railroad planned in 1875 can now be built, and England will have a back-door entry into China, of which she will hold the exclusive key. Should China object, it will be very easy for English gunboats to conquer a peace, and England to gain a slice of Chinese territory.

—Governor Zulick, of Arizona, has informed the Secretary of the Interior that wholesale smuggling is carried on between Mexico and that Territory. He says that thousands of gallons of mescal, a liquor distilled from the cactus plant, are annually imported from Mexico, hardly a gallon of which pays duty. Hundreds of thousands of Mexican cigars and quantities of tobacco, besides beef, cattle, horses, mules, etc., are smuggled in.

—The loss of life and property in the recent cyclone on the Orissa coast of India was truly appalling. An area of about four hundred square miles of rice land was covered with water, and all the crops and villages were destroyed. Seven hundred villages were completely wrecked, and three-fourths of the people killed. Houses are crushed into a confused mass, and the stench of corpses is dreadful. It is said that this disaster "surpasses in its horrors even the destruction wrought by the tidal wave of the cyclone of 1864 in the reaches of the Hooghly."

—Since the arrest, conviction, and imprisonment of prominent Mormons for polygamy, serious trouble has been brewing in Salt Lake City. A spirit of bitterness and indignation has been aroused among the Mormons that has led them to retaliate by seeking to entrap Federal officers and prominent Gentiles by means of disreputable women. In this they were only partially successful. Then a Deputy Marshal was assailed by four Mormons who lay in wait for him, one of whom he dangerously shot. The Mormon press is calling for blood atonement, and threats have been made that the entire Gentile population of Salt Lake City will be cleaned out. Part of the troops stationed at Fort Omaha have been removed under secret orders, and the rest are ready to move at a moment's notice; and it is believed that their destination is the much-agitated city by the salt sea.

—The Servo-Bulgarian armistice was hardly signed before the Bulgarian invaders of Servia were attacking Pirot, and the Servian army in Bulgaria was attacking Widdin. The losses in both engagements were very heavy. There seems scarcely to have been any cessation of hostilities. The Servians refuse all terms of peace offered by the victorious Bulgarians. The Constantinople conference has failed to settle the difficulty. Turkish troops are massing on the frontier, menacing Bulgaria; and fears are entertained that Austria will come to the rescue of Servia, and that Russia will be compelled to support Bulgaria.

—The Argentine Republic has made arrangements for completing three lines of railroad, which were commenced fifteen years ago, but have remained unfinished for want of means. These railways all radiate from Buenos Ayres, and they connect that city with the coal mines of South Chili, with Santiago de Chili, and with some point in Bolivia. It is expected that they will not only bring into the market the teeming riches of Bolivia and the Argentine Republic, but will lead to a large European immigration into South America. A syndicate of British capitalists furnish $60,000,000 for this enterprise and for improvements in the harbor of Buenos Ayres.