FOREIGN by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 12, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 45.

FOREIGN.

By Editor

—A despatch from China states that the government of that country has just signed contracts ordering two new cruisers and four torpedo-boats.

—A complete pardon has been issued by President Dole, his Cabinet, and the Council of State, to ex-Queen Liliuokalani. She is now as free to come and go as others.

—Edward John Poynter, R. A., has just been elected president of the Royal Academy of Art, London, as successor to Sir John Millais, who died in August last.

—The French scientist Moissan has discovered that minute diamonds exist in very hard steel, formed in the process of hardening, so says the Scientific American.

—A despatch from Rome concerning Cardinal Satolli's report to the pope of affairs in the United States places the political situation as a special feature of the report.

—The secretary of the British Colonial Office has announced that before Parliament assembles again, the Venezuelan boundary dispute will have been satisfactorily settled.

—Advices from India state that about sixty-seven thousand men are engaged in relief work in the famine stricken districts. No rain has yet fallen, and prices are slowly rising.

—On November 4 the Archduchess Maria Dorothea, of Austria, renounced all her rights of succession to the throne, prior to her marriage to the Duke of Orleans, the pretender to the throne of France.

—Advices from Spain state that General Polavieja, known as "The Butcher" from his past records in Cuba, has been ordered to the Philippine Islands to replace General Blanco as Captain-General of those colonies.

—At a recent meeting in London of the directors and shareholders of the British South African Company, the capital stock was increased $5,000,000. This action is due to the favorable outlook at present in South Africa.

—The Japanese Government has awarded contracts for two cruisers to be built in the United States, one by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, the other by the Cramp Ship and Engine Company, of Philadelphia.

—A recent despatch from Peking says that an imperial edict has commanded the punishment of Li Hung Chang for entering the precincts of the ruined summer palace while on a visit near the spot! The punishment is the loss of a year's salary!

—The French Minister of Agriculture has recently issued an order permitting shipment of American cattle to Basle, Switzerland, via Boulogne, France, on condition that they be sanitarily inspected at receiving port, and also before being loaded on cars, which must be stalled.

—An old Roman "tub"-well has been discovered in ancient ruins at Silchester, England. The excavators have succeeded in raising the tub, the wood of which is well preserved, tho at least 1,600 years old, without damaging it, and it will be exhibited at the Reading Museum.

—A Marseilles, France, despatch, under date of November 6, says the government officials have refused to accept foreign copper coin. As a result, tradesmen are very much excited, 3,000 of them petitioning the government to grant delay. An immense crowd paraded the streets, and threatened the banks and newspapers advocating the refusal.

—The Pall Mall Gazette, of London, recently despatched a correspondent to Paris from New York, the trip to be made by land. The route necessarily was via Alaska and Siberia, but Mr. Dewindt, the gentleman who undertook the mission, has just returned, having got no further than the coast of northeastern Siberia. The journey from there could only be made by dog trains, and in the month of April.

—The street-cars of Toronto rest on Sunday, but as some agitation has been made over the matter, the city council recently ordered a ballot taken among the employees of the street railway company to ascertain their sentiment in regard to the matter. Out of 250 voting, 220 declared against Sunday work, and, as it is said public sentiment is likeminded, the cars will probably continue resting on that day.

—An arrangement is now being proposed in Manitoba, that the public school system be maintained undenominational, but that after school hours any denomination, Catholic or Protestant, will be at liberty to give such instruction to its children as it may choose, we suppose in the school buildings. The Catholics appear determined to gain some concession if possible, but thus far every effort has failed.

—It is announced from Stockholm, Sweden, that M. Andree will make another attempt to reach the north pole next summer in his balloon. It will be remembered that he failed to make the trip as proposed during the summer just past.

—A despatch from St. John's, N. F., states that the schooner Maggie was run down by an outward bound steamer on the night of the 6th inst., and thirteen persons drowned. There were twenty-eight on board, but the survivors were picked up by the steamer's boat.

—The trial of the Castles, the wealthy Americans arrested in London for shoplifting, has ended, resulting in acquittal for Mr. Castle, and sentence of three months without hard work for his wife. The verdict holds her irresponsible, and it is thought she will be released soon.

—A London despatch dated November 5 states that severe earthquakes have occurred again in Iceland. On October 4, 150 farms were ruined, a large number of cattle killed, and large quantities of stored food destroyed. The people are camping in improvised shelters. No loss of human life is reported.

—A news item states that the people of Scotland are much aroused over Sunday golf games. The usual cry is raised that the act is sacrilegious, and in addition degrades the game. When it was learned by the people of Leith that the Member of Parliament from their burgh occasionally played a Sunday game when from under their eyes, he was severely handled, word-wise. He attempted to justify his course, and it is announced that he will probably lose his seat at the next election. By this it appears that political methods for making men religious are about the same everywhere.

DOMESTIC.

—The cost of maintaining the United States Navy for last year, exclusive of increase and improvements at yards and docks, was $15,494,862.

—By the explosion of a locomotive boiler in the yards of the Southern Railway, at Atlanta, Ga., November 5, two men were killed and one seriously wounded.

—During the week just passed the first severe storm of the winter season struck the Great Lakes region, causing considerable damage in various places. Heavy storms are also reported on the coasts of Spain, and Western Russia.

—Peter Fisher, a mine owner of Butte County, Cal., was found dead about a hundred yards from his mountain cabin on November 5. Three days before he had started for home after dark, and it is believed he became lost and died from exposure.

—A second receivership has been appointed for the Santa Fé Railroad in Kansas. The action is believed to have been brought about by those who opposed the recent reorganization plan of the Santa Fé, and is permitted under a state law against acquisition of property beyond a certain limit by an alien corporation.

—A complete counterfeiting outfit, together with several thousand dollars in counterfeit gold coin, was recently discovered in the cabin of a sheep-shearer named Garner, near Bakersfield, Cal. Garner has been considered a quiet, inoffensive man, but appearances are often misleading. A friend induced him to give himself up to the officers.

—A serious set-to occurred between the police and a crowd of negroes, in Winchester, Ky., on the 4th inst. The trouble originated by a negro boy snatching papers from a newsboy. The attempted arrest of the offender met with resistance, and shots were freely exchanged. Ten men were wounded, and it is reported that three of the negroes will die from wounds received.

—A shooting affray occurred at Matewan, W. Va., on election day, between Captain Hatfield, a noted desperate character, and John Rutherford and others. Rutherford, his brother-in-law and nephew were killed, and a sheriff's posse immediately set out in pursuit of the murderer. He was captured on the night of the fifth. It is stated that seventeen murders constitute Hatfield's life report.

—Experiments with an electric motor are being pushed on the elevated roads of New York. The power is received from two sources,—storage cells on the motor, and from the power station by means of a third rail placed just outside one of the track rails. Either supply can be used, separately and together, and it is claimed the arrangement gives a constant current to the motor, a variation of the trolley-rail current being automatically compensated for from the supply in the cells.

—On November 5 the new canal permitting vessels to pass over the upper cascades of the Columbia River, sixty miles from Portland, Or., was formally opened. The canal contains three locks, and the upper gates are claimed by engineers to be the largest lock gates in the world. The cost to the government has been over two and a half million dollars. Work was first begun on the canal eighteen years ago. This opens navigation to the Dalles, and it is proposed to overcome the obstruction at the latter place by means of a ship railroad.

—Russell Sage, the millionaire, has brought suit against the Erie Railroad Company for $100, because employees of the company shot one of his horses that had fallen through a trestle on the road and broken its legs. The horse was killed to put it out of its misery, but Mr. Sage had the body exhumed and examined by a veterinary surgeon, who believed the horse's life might have been saved by placing its legs in splints for some time.

—The excitement of election week is abating, and the supposed strain under which the country has been laboring for months ought now to be relieved. The full count has not been announced as we go to press, but latest news gives Mr. McKinley, the Republican candidate for President, over 260 electoral votes. As 224 votes only are necessary for safety, the result is decisive. In many respects, owing to the questions involved, and the standing of the candidates, the campaign just closed has been one of the most remarkable and interesting in the history of American politics. We do not predict peace to follow, nor prosperous times of any length, not because of party lines, for these have a minor significance, but because God's word tells us that social conditions will wax worse and worse to the end. The trust of the Christian and his hope should be based on the power of God as the only sure foundation.

—Another prophetess, this time in our own city, is exhorting her hearers and followers to flee to the hills to avoid the great war that is inevitably at hand. This is the last battle, the Armageddon. After four years they can return to the cities, as the Lord will then take possession. This is another of the Lo! heres, and Lo! theres, that speak not according to the word of God. That word tells us that the day and hour of his coming is not revealed, altho we may know when it is near; and that when he comes, the earth will be desolated, the wicked living destroyed, and the righteous living taken to heaven, together with the resurrected righteous dead. The Lord nowhere brings to view a second probation, where his personal presence will convert the world. Faith in the efficacy of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the evidences already given, is the only thing that can avail to cause repentance. What is seen is not faith.