p. 831 | News and Notes by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 5, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 52.

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News and Notes.

By Editor

FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 29.

RELIGIOUS.

—The Parliament of Finland has passed a law forbidding railway traffic and mail delivery on Sunday.

—A clause in the State constitution of Vermont provides that no Roman Catholic can hold the office of governor.

—The recent General Conference of the Free Methodist Church which convened at Greenville, Ill., decided against a proposition to ordain women.

—A conference, called by the pope for the purpose of arranging, if possible, a reunion between the Eastern and Western churches, was convened in Rome on the 24th ult.

—A Melbourne, Australia, paper says twelve young ladies took the black veil of the Sisters of Mercy in that city on the 25th ult. They had been selected in Ireland, but passed their novitiate in Melbourne.

—At a recent conference of Roman Catholic archbishops held in Philadelphia, the American branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians was formally approved. Theoretically the Catholic Church opposes secret societies, but the Catholic secret societies are excepted from the proscription. Of all secret political organizations, the Roman Church is the most subtle.

—Constitutional guarantees of liberty of conscience do not count for much in these days—in fact they never did when disregarded by officials and their supporters. For instance, the constitution of Spain guarantees liberty of conscience, but quite recently two Protestants were fined and imprisoned by a Madrid court for not kneeling in the street before a priest who was carrying the viaticum.

—The pilgrims who started from Brooklyn, N. Y., last month, on a pilgrimage to the shrine at Lourdes, France, intended also to visit Rome. Papal Delegate Satolli sent them his blessing and some valuable directions. He gravely informed them that the women should wear black dresses and Brussels net veils instead of bonnets when received by the pope, and that the men should wear evening dress. How much the deluded “pilgrims” might save by going directly before the Lord himself, at home and in their everyday clothes! This supporting a pompous “vicar” is an expensive luxury, as well as a delusion and a snare to the soul.

—Bishop Watterson, the great outspoken temperance apostle of the Catholic Church, is a prohibitionist with an “if.” He is receiving great praise from certain temperance people and journals for this utterance: “If the liquor traffic in particular places becomes so bold, so outrageous, so overmastering and defiant that it cannot be controlled in any other way than the legal wiping out of the saloons, then let the saloons be legally wiped out; and I say, in God’s name, and in the name of an outraged community, the sooner they are legally wiped out in that case the better for the community.” Just as if the liquor traffic ever is, in any place, anything but “bold” and “outrageous” and “overmastering” and “defiant.” These are the characteristics of the great adversary of souls, one of whose foremost allies is the liquor traffic.

—Samuel Johnson, an English minister of prominence some 200 years ago, gave this direction about Sunday observance: “It should be different from any other day. People may walk, but not throw stones at birds; there may be relaxation, but there should be no levity.” On this the Scottish Review remarks: “Excellent, though the inference is perhaps rather droll—that on week days one might throw stones at birds. Not unlike the plea one put forward for polygamy—that it is only a bishop who, in Holy Writ, is enjoined to be the husband of one wife.” As to the logic (or rather want of logic) of Sunday observance, it is the same to-day. For instance, the clamor for the closing of saloons on Sunday is a virtual admission that the open saloon is all right on other days. We never hear of any special plea for closed saloons on any other particular day of the week.

SECULAR.

—The striking weavers at Fall River, Mass., have decided to return to work.

—The announcement a few weeks ago of the death of the ameer of Afghanistan is officially denied.

—Chile has declined to sell her war ships to China, and Argentina has refused an offer of Japan to buy her war fleet.

—A lamp explosion caused the burning of a hotel in Raton, N. M., last week, and two men were burned to death.

—Mary A. Woodbridge, corresponding secretary of the National W. C. T. U., died at Chicago on the 25th inst., of apoplexy.

—The freight depot of the St. Louis Transfer Company, St. Louis, Mo., was burned on the 28th inst., entailing a loss of $500,000.

—The latest advices from Hongkong report more cases of the plague that was supposed to have been thoroughly overcome a few weeks ago.

—A cloudburst near Redding, Cal., on the 24th inst., sent “rivers of water through the streets” of that town, and caused a great rise in adjacent streams.

—The West Hotel, Seattle, Wash., was destroyed by fire on the 27th inst., and sixteen persons—ten men, three women, and three children—were burned to death.

—The London Standard says that a silver loan of 1,500,000 taels for the city of Canton is being offered in that market, “probably in order to feel the pulse for a Chinese loan.”

—Official reports of the Japanese campaign in Corea, while indicating marked successes, also show heavy losses. The killed, wounded, and sick number over ten per cent. of the army.

—On the 22d ult. fifty delegates, representing railroad switchmen from various parts of the country, met at Kansas City for the purpose of organizing a new Switchmen’s Brotherhood.

—During the consecration of a church at Trokh, Russia, on the 25th inst., a lamp was upset. A panic followed, and in the rush for the door two women and three children were trampled to death.

—A great fire swept over portions of Cherry and Grant Counties, Neb., last week, destroying several homes, and large quantities of hay, together with fences and some live stock. Two men were also burned to death.

—Washington, D. C., is said to be the scene of a smallpox fright. Within two days last week nine cases were developed, and the sudden appearance of the disease necessarily exposed a great many unsuspecting people.

—A Madrid dispatch says: “The Finance Committee of the Cortes has decided to establish a gold standard of currency for Porto Rico. The Mexican dollar will hereafter be used only as a basis of weight for the value of silver.”

—The residence of Rev. Ross Taylor, son of Bishop Taylor, at Nyack, N. Y., was burned on the 22d inst., and four of his children, aged from 5 to 11 years, perished in the flames. Three men were also badly burned, one fatally.

—The Chinese Government has issued a decree granting protection to all foreigners. Such a guarantee in China is of about as much value as the guarantee of religious liberty to citizens in some “Christian” countries—it is principally theory.

—Late advices from Hawaii state that myriads of small bugs are devastating the orchards and fields. The destroyers work at night and are invisible in the daytime. The people think the little destroyers came from Japan, hence they call it the Japan bug.

—It appears that Colonel Breckenridge, of Kentucky, is not down yet. On the 24th ult. he spoke to a crowded house at Mount Sterling, and it is said there were many ladies present. He is now said to be coming to the front as a candidate for United States Senator.

—The weavers of a worsted cloth mill in Monayunk, Pa., have struck for a fifteen per cent. raise in wages. They say that they have been subjected to a fifty per cent. reduction since last spring, and now $8.50 per week is all they can earn on a daily run of thirteen hours.

—A Swedish schooner loaded with gunpowder was blown up near Peterhead, Scotland, on the 24th ult. Within two minutes after the explosion no part of the craft was to be seen excepting a few splinters floating about. The crew all went down with the wreck.

—The general superintendent of the Pacific Express Company says they will not risk carrying money into Indian Territory until assured of better protection from outlaws. He is also of opinion that only the Government of the United States can give adequate protection.

—The Chilean Government has pardoned all persons accused of political offenses prior to August 28, 1889. This includes all adherents to ex-President Balmaceda at the time he was forced to resign, but does not include those who resisted the new government after that date.

—The son of an ex city marshal and the son of an ex district judge have been arrested on a charge of committing the recent express robbery at The Dalles, Oregon. Of the $14,500 taken, all but $400 has been recovered, $5,000 having been found in the house of the ex-marshal.

—Charles A. Keller, of Chicago, was arrested a few days ago, while making a political speech, on charges connected with the great strike of last summer. He had taken an active part in organizing a boycott against merchants who sold goods to men who took the places of strikers. He was indicted by the grand jury on this charge, and, in default of bail, was lodged in jail.

—Colonel Cienfuegos, who has been held in this city for some time on demand of the Salvadoran Government for his extradition on a charge of murder, has been granted a release on a rehearing of his case at Washington. He was a member of the staff of General Ezeta, who was released a few weeks ago.

—Some whaling vessels returned to Dundee, Scotland, report having found a large number of Eskimo corpses on the shore of Elvin Bay, Prince Regent’s Inlet. They had evidently been caught by storm away from winter quarters and starved to death. This theory was sustained by evidences of cannibalism.

—It is said that Japanese detectives have arrested a Chinese woman at Hiroshima, who is charged with being a spy. Being unusually pretty, and proficient in the Japanese language, she succeeded in gaining an intimacy with several officers, and had accumulated considerable information concerning Japanese plans and equipments.

—Major Richter, formerly of the German army, who has been employed by the Chinese Government for the past two years to inspect the army and suggest movements, has resigned in disgust. He “found corruption and fraud rampant,” and his reports were garbled before they reached the head of the government.

—Advices from South America report a severe earthquake on the 27th inst., extending all over Argentina and part of Buenos Ayres. The town of La Rioja, Argentina, is said to have been entirely destroyed. At least 20,000 people are said to be homeless, and hundreds have lost their lives in the various localities heard from.

—Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith, in reply to the question of what should be done to check the lawlessness among the Indians of Indian Territory, says: “Abrogate the treaties, abolish tribal relations, establish a Territorial government, and extend the jurisdiction of the United States over the whole Territory.” He adds that tribal government is a failure; their Legislatures make laws but cannot enforce them.

—Chancellor Von Caprivi, of Germany, has resigned his office because of continued bitter contentions in the cabinet. “He has had much opposition from various political sources during his entire service of four and a half years. The culminating crisis, it is said, grew of his opposition to the passage of laws for the repression of socialism. Prince Hohenlohe Shillingsfurst, governor of Alsace-Lorraine, succeeds him.

—The immense barbette for the U. S. war ship Oregon, now being built at San Francisco, has been completed by the Carnegie Company, at Homestead, Pa., being the largest piece of armor plate work ever turned out. It weighs 400 tons, and will require sixteen cars to carry it to San Francisco. A barbette is a gun carriage on which great guns are raised above deck to be fired and lowered again to avoid exposure while being loaded.

—The reign of terror continues in Venezuela. A late Caracas dispatch says that five members of a band organized to kidnap President Crespo were killed in a riot at Maracaibo and seven were captured. A plot has been divulged which had in view the establishment of a provisional government, with General Pinango, who is now in prison, at its head. The government has ordered the seizure of all arms and ammunition in shops, the streets are patrolled by troops, and several high military officials have been arrested.

—The Japanese have scored another victory in the capture of the fortified city of Kiu Lien Ching, which was held by 16,000 Chinese troops. The garrison made but a slight resistance and then fled. It is reported that 200 of the fleeing troops were killed, while the Japanese killed numbered but 20. An immense amount of ammunition and provisions was secured. It is also stated that the second Japanese army of 30,000 had landed to the northeast of Port Arthur, and that the Chinese at Port Arthur and Wei Hai Wei were in full flight.

—Lord Rosebery, premier of Great Britain, in a recent speech deplored the terrible results of a destruction of the central government of China, and said a headless China meant such a scene of chaos and horror as the world had never contemplated. Hundreds of millions of a barbarous and cruel population would be let loose, with their passions uncontrolled. This would be an appalling danger to every Christian within its reach. He may have had in mind the scramble of “civilized” nations for their “rights” in the partition of the headless body.

BIBLE ELECTION. By M. C. Wilcox. A brief presentation of God’s plan and purpose concerning man, showing that the doctrine of election, or predestination, according to the Bible, is full of comfort and instruction. It throws new light on old controversies. Bible Students’ Library, No. 67; 24 pp.; price 3 cents. Address Pacific Press Pub. Co., Oakland, Cal.

THOSE TENT MEETINGS.—We have a few more copies of “Those Tent Meetings,” a rhyming recital, by M. B. Duffy. Price, 25 cents, postpaid. Address this office.