International

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 11, 1899

International.—Italy and Colombia are again on the verge of unpleasant incidents. A squadron is reported to have sailed from Rome for the purpose of enforcing the Cerruti claims upon the Government of Colombia, in accordance with President Cleveland's award, and the Italian admiral is instructed to demand satisfaction for the insults to Italy which occurred during the debates in the Colombian Chamber.....The expedition which was fitted out by the Swedish Government to search for Herr Andree has returned without finding any trace of the missing aeronaut.....England has adopted penny postage to all points of the British Empire, Australia and Cape Colony excepted.....The Russian Government has recently purchased of American firms 80,000 tons of steel rails for the roads which she is building in Eastern Russia and Manchuria.

.....There is a renewal of the trouble between the Austrian and Hungarian divisions of Austria, which threatens to throw Hungary into a state of anarchy. The clergy are preaching resistance to the government, which they have never forgiven for passing the law legalizing civil marriages.....Another disgraceful scene was witnessed on December 15 in the Austrian Reichsrath. The use of scandalous language was participated in by those engaged, and duelings are expected between the principals.

.....The recent anti-Anarchist conference held in Rome is expected to result in the establishment of an international bureau for the surveillance of Anarchists. The conference declined to recognize the crimes of Anarchists as of a political nature, thus making their extradition easier.....A report from Bolivia states that the rebels are stoutly opposing the government forces. The situation in that country is still serious.....A Chinese marauder with a band of 5,000 men is raiding the province of Szechuen, determined to rid China of all foreigners, and to stamp out the Christian religion. A large number of native Christians and missionaries have been murdered by these raiders, and the property destroyed by them is valued at 5,000,000 taels. The mandarins are unable to cope with the uprising, and have offered the leader 100,000 taels, his officers third rank in the army, and 1,000 of his men employment in the imperial army, in order to induce them to disband.....The representatives of Great Britain and the United States at Shanghai, China, have both entered official protest against the granting of certain demands made by the French Government in regard to extra territorial rights in the city of Shanghai. France is also demanding of China valuable concessions in the valley of the Yang-tse-Kiang which are equivalent to the cession of a portion of that valley to France. The viceroy of Nanking has refused to grant the demand; but the French are reported to have despatched an armed expedition up the river to Kwei-Chau, and one of her gunboats has already proceeded beyond Nanking.....For the present year France will vote $50,000,000 for the navy, to use in building cruisers, in equipping those already built, and in establishing coaling stations.

Grand Duke Nicholas, of Russia, has been sent to Constantinople for the purpose of strengthening the friendship of the two nations. Another significant move on the part of Russia is the building of a monastery in the immediate vicinity of the sultan's palace, fitted out as a veritable fort, and so situated as to command the palace itself. Russia is also establishing these armed monasteries throughout Armenia. Their inmates are believed to be soldiers instead of monks.....The Russian Government has entered into negotiations with the Rothschilds for the loan of $150,000,000, one-half of which will be used to reorganize and rearm the Russian artillery. Such a move would seem to have an important bearing upon the discussion of the proposed peace congress to be held at St. Petersburg next May. An attempt was made to secure this loan of American capitalists, but the attempt did not succeed. The czar is said to regret the partition of China, but is leaving nothing undone that will help to prepare Russia to take and hold a large portion of the empire.

The czar is preparing to submit to the different powers whose representatives he will invite to the peace congress at St. Petersburg, a definite plan of disarmament, in order to enable them to formulate proposals, modifications, or counter suggestions. The movement in favor of the czar's suggestions is taking practical shape in England, where a conference of the heads of all the religious denominations has been summoned. The queen and other members of the royal family are much interested in the peace conference.

Another acute public struggle between France and England is foreshadowed in the New Year's editions of the London papers, which are warning France not to press her claims in China, stating that if France does not heed the warning, England will enforce her own claims upon France, without regard to China. In line with this declaration is the renewed activity in the British army and navy. An unprecedented amount of war material is being sent out to Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, and India. This, with Russia's proposal to build four new battle-ships, six cruisers, and a host of torpedo-boats and destroyers, the recent French appropriation of 66,000,000 francs for new artillery and $60,000,000 for war ships and equipments, and the activity of the military branch of the Japanese Government, shows the true and ominous tendency of the times.

It is estimated that smoking has quadrupled during the present year among the women of England, many of whom are becoming addicted to the use of the sickening cigaret. The practise is helped along by the jewelers, who have prepared the daintiest of jeweled cigaret holders, to be used for Christmas presents.....Divorces are rapidly on the increase in France. At a single session of four hours in one of the Paris courts no fewer than 294 divorces were granted.....Vice in a new form has recently appeared in Paris. It is the intoxication produced by drinking petroleum. The taste grows upon the drinker until it becomes an uncontrollable passion, the intoxication itself being of a melancholy nature. This vice already has many votaries in the French capital.

Casualties and Calamities.—Starvation is rampant in the Bemini Islands, the western division of the Bahama group. These islands have recently been swept by severe storms, and the people are said to be in a pitiable condition.....Several hundred Montenegrin soldiers were recently overtaken by a snow-storm in the Lara Pass, and frozen to death. An expedition was sent to rescue them, but the snow-drifts were so heavy it was impossible to accomplish anything.....A French lieutenant and fifteen men are said to have been killed recently by natives of the New Hebrides.....An avalanche destroyed a portion of the village of Airolo, Switzerland, on December 28, the débris of the avalanche covering an area of one square mile. Property valued at $200,000 was destroyed, and several persons were injured.....Advices from Upper Kongo, Africa, state that a company of Belgian traders with an escort of thirty soldiers were recently killed and eaten by natives of Upper Ubanghi. Another detachment of forty soldiers which went to their assistance was also massacred.....A report from the Caroline Islands states that the Spanish garrison on the island of Puynipa was massacred recently by natives, who have set up an educated native chief as governor.

The Philippines.—The city of Iloilo, on the island of Panay, was recently surrendered to the native insurgents by the Spaniards there. The natives are now in possession, and a detachment of American troops has been sent to the island to assume control. It is expected that the insurgents will resist the American demand for possession of the city, and that a fight will occur between the Americans and natives. Aguinaldo has asked from the so-called Philippine Government authority to declare war. His request was met by considerable opposition from the Philippine Congress. Aguinaldo has disappeared, and considerable uneasiness is felt by the American officials, as it is feared that he may be inciting the natives of the interior to oppose the Americans.....The Navy Department is preparing to connect the different islands by cable.....Reports from General Otis state that quiet prevails in the city, and that business is increasing.....Lieutenant Hobson has sailed for Manila, to assist in raising and reconstructing the Spanish vessels sunk in the harbor.

Cuba.—The formal transfer of the island of Cuba from the Spanish to the American flag was accomplished at noon January 1, when the emblems of the sovereignty of the two nations changed places on all the government buildings, and a salute of twenty-one guns was fired from the vessels in the harbor and the forts on shore. Cuba is now under the military command of General Brooke, and Spain's rule of four hundred years is closed. The Cuban army did not participate in the celebration, tho its representative officers were present during the ceremony.....Three transports carrying troops for Cuba left Charleston, S. C., on December 30, and others departed from other ports.....American money has been made the standard of exchange throughout the island.....Arrangements are being made for the distribution of food among the destitute and starving inhabitants of the island.

Porto Rico.—Gen. Guy V. Henry, military governor of Porto Rico, has reduced the budget for the present year from 4,000,000 pesos, as under the Spanish régime, to 1,700,000 pesos. He intimates that the suffrage will not be restricted to those who can read and write, as only fourteen per cent. of the inhabitants could qualify under such a rule. Various reforms are proposed, such as the employment of American school-teachers and a few American policemen, and the prohibiting of imprisonment without specific charges, or holding persons in prison without trial.

Domestic.—The largest railway station in the world, the South Union Station of Boston, was opened to the public on January 1. The station cost $14,000,000, and can accommodate 4,000 trains daily....The government is making extensive preparations for the distribution of nearly half a million tons of coal at coast ports and among the various islands recently acquired, for the use of war ships in times of emergency. Armed colliers are to be kept loaded in constant readiness for immediate service.....The gunboat Bennington has been ordered to take possession of Wake Island, in the Western Pacific, and this speck of land will be made a landing-place for a Pacific Ocean cable between this country, the Philippines, and China and Japan.....The American peace commissioners have returned to this country, and the treaty is now in the hands of the President.