FOREIGN | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 8, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 40.

FOREIGN.

—Peru has decided to legalize civil marriages.

—A Vienna despatch says 6,000 miners have joined the strike which is in progress through the coal regions of North Bohemia.

—A Turkish official journal says that France and Russia are resolved to maintain the integrity of Turkey, and that Austria concurs in this line of policy.

—Baroness Hirsch has given £20,000,000 for the continuance of her late husband's labors for the emigration of poverty-stricken Jews from Russia to the Argentine Republic.

—Official despatches from Salisbury, Mashonaland, Africa, report serious fighting, lasting three days, near Mazoe. The British were hemmed in by the natives for ten hours.

—A Madrid despatch of the 30th ult. says that the Spanish Government has decided to send 40,000 more troops to Cuba; also to send 2,000 to Porto Rico, and 3,000 to the Philippine Islands.

—A late Bombay despatch says: "The drought continues in northern and central India. Crops in these sections have utterly failed. Grain riots have occurred in many places as a result of the scarcity."

—The Paris Gaulois says that in view of the disturbed state of affairs in Madagascar, 12,000 troops will be sent there after the fêtes to be held in honor of the visit of the czar and czarina to the French capital.

—Storms and rainfall in Egypt of an extent and violence heretofore unknown occurred during the first few days of September. The tempest did great damage to the railway being constructed by the Egyptians.

—A recent letter from the sultan to the German emperor says: "Upon my imperial honor, no Christian lives are threatened now or will be in the future. All of my subjects, except anarchists, are equally safe."

—A Berlin despatch of the 1st inst. says that Turkish officials propose to introduce the old German laws against Socialists and anarchists into that country. They regard this move as a compliment to the German emperor.

—Matthew Izmirlian, the Armenian patriarch who was banished to Jerusalem from Constantinople, has arrived at his destination, and is said to be a source of menace to the peace of that city. There is constant dread of outbreak among the Mussulmans on his account.

—Advices from Belgrade say that the brother of the Austrian consul at Cerces, Macedonia, who was carried off by a band of Bulgarian brigands some weeks ago, has been murdered, with four of his companions, because a ransom of $50,000 was not forthcoming as demanded.

—Coal miners at Brux and Occeg, in Bohemia, to the number of 2,500, went on a strike September 30. In the ensuing riots, the offices of the mining company and the buildings surrounding the entrances to the mines were wrecked. Several officers of the mines were assaulted and severely injured. Troops were sent to quell the disturbance.

—A Tangier despatch of September 30 says: "The Jewish quarter of Fez, the principal city of the empire of Morocco, has been burned, and several persons have perished and many were fatally injured. Five hundred of the residents of the burning quarter were compelled to fly to the country until the flames were quenched. It is estimated that there are 10,000 Jews in Fez out of a total population of 100,000.

—During the march of the English expedition up the Nile this season, it is said that the cholera broke out among the troops several times, but was overcome by means of isolation, disinfection, and sanitation. It was generally stamped out in about ten days. It was difficult to keep the men from drinking the contaminated water of the Nile, or otherwise taking the cholera germs into their systems, but vigorous measures prevailed.

—Additional news by steamer from Japan states that the villages of Hiraka, Okachi, and Sempoko were almost totally destroyed by the recent earthquakes. The number of persons killed in the district was 196; seriously injured, 262; residences totally wrecked, 4,050, and partly destroyed, 855; buildings other than residences destroyed, 1,368, and rendered unsafe, 808. A steamer on the western coast was capsized by a typhoon, and 100 passengers were drowned. A tidal wave on the coast of Ise at the same time swept away several small villages. The sufferers are many, altho most of the people escaped with their lives. However, at Fukuchiyama over 1,000 lives were lost by floods, and the survivors are destitute.

—U. S. Consul Mills, of Honolulu, will send the remains of Kate Field, the noted American woman journalist, to the United States for cremation, as her request can not be carried out there for lack of facilities for that purpose.

—It is said the sultan has promised the German ambassador that if any fresh disorders arise in Constantinople, only the police and military will be employed to suppress them. The engagement of men armed with cudgels to disperse rioters will not be allowed.

—The czar and czarina have concluded their much-talked-of visit to grandmother Victoria, of England, and departed without being Nihilized; but it is said that the chief inspector of police has materially aged through worry over his contract to see that no harm befall the royal visitors to the queen. The responsibility of the czar's safety anywhere is a weighty charge. Such is this world's honors.

—Late advices from Nicaragua state that a plot was recently discovered which involved the overturning of the government, and the assassination of President Zelaya. The discovery was on the very eve of the proposed execution of the plot. One of the leading conspirators was Cardenas, the former president. The Conservatives, who aided Zelaya to quell the last revolution, are now against him, because of alleged failure to grant promised favors.

—The strike of telegraphers and train despatchers on the Canadian Pacific Railroad has seriously disarranged the running of trains. The strikers attempted to take advantage of a very busy time, inasmuch as the grain rush is on. There has been a disagreement between the company and the telegraphers for some time, because of the latter's membership in the Order of Railway Telegraphers. Three months ago, it is said, discharge was threatened if they did not withdraw from the order.